Recent advances in networking technology has enabled new
multimedia and process control applications. These applications require
real-time communication services with stringent performance guarantees
expressed in terms of delay, delay jitter, throughput and loss rate.
Current network architectures and protocols are designed to support
best-effort services and they are inefficient in supporting real-time
services.
In this paper, we survey real-time communication architectures and
protocols both in packet-switching networks and in multiple-access
networks.
For each network a service model is presented as a general framework.
Specifically, the service model for a packet-switching network is composed
of a specification for traffic characterization and performance
requirements,
a routing protocol, a resource reservation protocol and a packet service
discipline at switching nodes. The model for a multiple-access network, on
the other hand, includes a basic traffic characterization and a MAC-layer
real-time scheduling algorithm. This paper surveys the recent developments
in each component of the service models with comparisons of alternative
techniques.
(Also cross-referenced as UMIACS-TR-97-04