Rate adapters with bursty arrivals and rational rate reduction: queueing analysis

In ATM-based communication networks, the transmission links that interconne ct the network nodes do not necessarily operate at the same transmission sp eeds. If the speed of the incoming link in a node exceeds the speed of the outgoing link, a rate adaptation buffer must be provided in order to avoid frequent cell loss. This paper presents an analytical queueing analysis of a rate adaptation buffer in the case where the cell arrival stream on the i ncoming link is modeled as an interrupted Bernoulii process and the ratio o f the arrival rate versus the transmission rate can take any rational value . Based on a generating-functions approach, an expression for the probabili ty generating function of the buffer contents is derived. From this result, closed-form formulas for several performance measures are obtained. The re sults are illustrated by some numerical examples. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.