Methods for performance evaluation of VBR video traffic models

Models for predicting the performance of multiplexed variable bit rate video sources are important for engineering a network. However, models of a single source are also important for parameter negotiations and call admittance algorithms. In this paper we propose to model a single video source as a Markov renewal process whose states represent different bit rates. We also propose two novel goodness-of-fit metrics which are directly related to the specific performance aspects that we want to predict from the model. The first is a leaky bucket contour plot which can be used to quantify the burstiness of any traffic type. The second measure applies only to video traffic and measures how well the model can predict the compressed video quality