Performance Analysis and Pricing
in Broadband Networks

Vasilios A. Siris

Doctoral Dissertation
Department of Computer Science
University of Crete
December 1997

Contents

Abstract
Summary in Greek

1 Introduction

1.1 Motivation
1.1.1 Usage-based Pricing
1.1.2 Performance Analysis and Traffic Engineering
1.2 Summary of Contributions
1.3 Related Work
1.3.1 Performance Analysis and Traffic Engineering
1.3.2 Overflow Probability at an ATM Link with a Small Buffer
1.3.3 Usage-based Pricing for Network Transport Services
1.3.4 Pricing Best-Effort and Available Bit Rate (ABR) Services
1.4 Dissertation Outline

2 Performance Analysis and Traffic Engineering

2.1 Large Deviation Techniques
2.1.1 Effective Bandwidths and Many Sources Asymptotic
2.1.2 Bahadur-Rao Improvement
2.2 Implications to Traffic Engineering
2.3 Experiments with Real Traffic
2.3.1 Overflow Probability and Link Utilization
2.3.2 Space and Time Parameters
Effects of the Traffic Mix
2.4 Conclusions

3 Overflow Probability at an ATM link with a Small Buffer

3.1 Cell Scale and Burst Scale Congestion
3.1.1 Asymptotic Approximation of the Overflow Probability
3.2 Constant Bit Rate Sources
3.2.1 Bufferless Case
3.2.2 Buffered Case
3.2.3 Comparison with other Approximations
3.3 Periodic On-Off Sources
3.3.1 Overflow Probability for Small Buffers
3.3.2 Boundary Between Cell Scale and Burst Scale Regimes
3.3.3 Numerical Results
3.4 Conclusions

4 Usage-based Pricing for Network Services with Open Loop Control

4.1 Technological Characteristics and Desirable Properties of Pricing
4.1.1 Pricing and Connection Admission Control (CAC)
4.2 Pricing Schemes Linear in Time and Volume
4.2.1 On-Off Bound
4.2.2 Simple Bound
4.2.3 Inverted T Approximation
4.3 Pricing Schemes with Measurements in Distinct Time Intervals
4.3.1 Pricing with Renegotiation
4.3.2 The Virtual Bucket Scheme
4.4 Fairness of Pricing Schemes
4.5 Experiments with Real Traffic
4.5.1 MPEG-1 Traffic
4.5.2 Internet WAN Traffic
4.6 Incentive Compatibility
4.6.1 Effect of Traffic Shaping
4.7 Conclusions

5 Pricing and Resource Sharing for Available Bit Rate (ABR) Services

5.1 Technological Characteristics and Desirable Properties of Pricing
5.2 Pricing for Social Welfare Maximization
5.2.1 Dynamic Pricing
5.2.2 Simulation Results
5.2.3 An Alternative User-Network Interaction
5.3 Resource Sharing Based on Effective Bandwidths
5.3.1 Controlling Effective Rates
5.3.2 Simulation Results
5.4 Conclusions

6 Summary and Future Work

6.1 Future Work

Appendices
A Traffic Sources

A.1 MPEG-1 Compressed Video Traffic
A.2 Internet WAN Traffic
A.3 On-Off MMF Model for Voice Traffic
B Details of the Numerical and Simulation Experiments
B.1 Numerical Solution of the supinf Formula
B.2 Simulation of a Single Link
B.3 Network Simulation for the ABR Pricing and Resource Sharing Experiments
C Logarithmic Moment Generating Function for Periodic On-Off Sources

Bibliography