Distributed Network Flow Control based on Dynamic Competitive Markets

Network applications require a certain level of network performance for their proper operation. These individual guarantees can be provided if su cient amounts of network resources are available; however, contention for the limited network resources may occur. For this reason, networks use ow control to manage network resources fairly and e ciently. This paper presents a distributed microeconomic ow control technique, that models the network as competitive markets. In these markets switches price their link bandwidth based on supply and demand, and users purchase bandwidth so as to maximize their individual Quality of Service QoS. This decentralized ow control method provides a Pareto optimal and equitable QoSfair bandwidth distribution. Simulation results using actual MPEG-compressed video tra c show utilization over 95 and better QoS control than max-min.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: ICNP
• Authors: Errin W. Fulp, Douglas S. Reeves
• Keywords: Computer Networks, ICNP 1998, Microeconomic Ow Control, Network Resources, Ow Control