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, model s of a single source are also important for parameter negotiations and call admittance algorithms. In this paper we propose to model a singl e video source as a Markov renewal process whose states represent diff erent bit rates. We also propose two novel goodness-of-fit metrics whi ch are directly related to the specific performance aspects that we wa nt 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 th e model can predict the compressed video quality.