Evolution of Broadband Communication Networks: Architecture and Applications

With the rapid increase in users’ demand for flexibility and scalability of communication services, broadband communication networks are facing an ongoing challenge of providing various broadband services using a single communication architecture. This leads to the evolution of a challenging field of multiservice broadband network architectures. This chapter discusses the basic concepts associated with broadband communication network architectures with emphasis on provision of multiservice, and it also focuses on the evolution of broadband communication networks from the traditional architecture to the incorporation of virtualization services, that is, cloud computing. Another important aspect, which relates to the multiservice broadband network, is the “applications” which, as this chapter highlights, are a key-driving factor for the evolution of broadband communication networks. Moreover, this chapter also includes a discussion on New Zealand’s government initiatives to provide improved network coverage within the country

Performance evaluation of strategies for integration of elastic and stream traffic

This paper deals with the integration of `stream' traffic and `elastic' traffic in one single network, e.g. an ATM-based or an IP-based network. Here stream traffic refers to traffic with a certain bandwidth guarantee, whereas elastic traffic flows can adapt their rates to the link bandwidth left over by the stream flows. First, models are developed that describe different strategies for sharing link capacities between the stream and elastic flows. Then we give mathematical methods for obtaining performance measures, in particular call blocking probabilities and file transfer delays. Finally, these methods are used for assessing and comparing the efficiency gains achieved by the integration strategies

Garanties de performance pour les flots IP dans l'architecture Flow-Aware Networking

The thesis deals with the realization of a Quality of Service architecture that breaks with traditional approaches, and allows end-to-end performance guarantees for the traffic. The Flow-Aware Networking approach considers the traffic at the flow level, for which simple but robust traffic models lead to a fundamental relationship between the resources offered by the network, the demand and the obtained performance. In particular, the Cross-Protect router architecture proposes the combination of a fair queueing scheduler, and an admission control so as to implicitly ensure the performance of both streaming and elastic flows, without the need for any marking nor signalization protocol. In such a context, we consider the sizing of router buffers, the introduction of fair queueing scheduling inside the network and its impact on the performance of TCP protocols, as well as the realization of a suitable admission control algorithm. Finally, a declination of this architecture for the access network is proposed.La thèse s'intéresse à la réalisation d'une architecture de Qualité de Service en rupture avec les approches classiques, permettant d'offrir des garanties de bout en bout pour le trafic. L'approche Flow-Aware Networking considère le trafic au niveau des flux applicatifs, pour lesquels des modèles de trafic simples mais robustes conduisent à une relation fondamentale entre ressources offertes par le réseau, la demande générée, et la performance obtenue. En particulier, l'architecture de routeur Cross-Protect propose la combinaison d'un ordonnancement fair queueing et d'un contrôle d'admission afin d'assurer de manière implicite la performance des flots streaming et élastique, sans nécessiter ni marquage ni procotole de signalisation. Dans un tel contexte, nous considérons le dimensionnement des buffers au sein des routeurs, l'introduction d'un ordonnancement de type fair queueing dans le réseau et son impact sur la performance des protocoles TCP, ainsi que la réalisation d'un algorithme de contrôle d'admission approprié. Pour terminer, une déclinaison de cette architecture pour le réseau d'accès est proposée