On the use and calculation of the Hurst parameter with MPEG videos data traffic

Multimedia data traffic on the Internet has a highly self-similar structure. Self-similarity can be expressed by using the “Hurst parameter” (B.B. Mandelbrot, 1983). In the literature there are three basic methods proposed to evaluate the Hurst parameter, respectively: R/S analysis (W.E. Leland et al., 1994); variance time analysis (J. Beran, 1994); and periodogram analysis (W. Willinger et al., 1997). The paper analyses and compares these techniques by using a set of MPEG videos. We propose the best method for two different tasks: traffic admission control and traffic shaping. We also present a detailed description of the algorithm for various situations. Finally, we analyse the behaviour of the H parameter when various flows of self-similar traffic are multiplexed together. We also present a possible scheme for MPEG video servers to maintain bounded to the aggregated value of H