San Diego State University

Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences

ATM TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

By
P. Menon and S. Yaramada

Workshop
ATM Networking

San Diego, April 6-7, 2000

ATM SERVICE CATEGORIES

• Constant Bit Rate (CBR)

• Variable Bit Rate (VBR)
• VBR Real Time
• VBR Non Real Time
• Available Bit Rate (ABR)
• Unspecified Bit Rate (UBR)
ATM SERVICE CATEGORIES ( Cont. )
Fax Telephone

Telephone

UBR or ABR
Mac II

ATM ATM
Node Node
Computer
VBR

CBR
Laptop computer

Television
Television

Constant Bit Rate ( CBR ) : Assured Steady supply of bandwidth,

defined by PCR value.
Variable Bit Rate (VBR) : Assured supply of bandwith with :
rt:real-time and nrt-non-real-time
Available Bit Rate (ABR) : Bandwidth to keep application running
Unspecified Bit Rate (UBR) : Bandwidth as available with no assurance

ATM Foundation of Broadband Networks (Volume I)

by Uyless Black, Pub. Prentice Hall, 1999
 TRAFFIC PARAMETERS
• Peak Cell Rate (PCR)
• The maximum instantaneous rate at which the user will
transmit. It is the inverse of the minimum inter cell CBR

Bitrate
PCR
interval.
• Sustainable Cell Rate (SCR)
• Average rate that the user can send cells to the network Time
VBR
PCR
i.e., an average throughput. MBS
SCR

• Maximum Burst Size (MBS)

• The maximum back-to-back cells that can be sent at the Time

peak cell rate without violating the sustained cell rate. ABR
PCR

• Burst Tolerance ( BT )
• The maximum burst size that can be sent at the peak rate.
MCR

• Minimum Cell Rate (MCR)

Time
• The is the minimum rate desired by the user. PCR UBR

• QoS Parameters
• Negotiable QoS
• Non-Negotiable QoS Time
 NEGOTIABLE QoS PARAMETERS

• Cell Transfer Delay ( CTD )

• The delay experienced by a cell between the first bit of the cell that
is transmitted by the source and the last bit of the cell that is
received by the destination.
• Cell Delay Variation ( CDV )
• The difference of the maximum and minimum CTD experienced
during the connection. Peak-to-peak CDV and Instantaneous CDV
are used.

• Cell Loss Ratio ( CLR )

• The percentage of cells that are lost in the network due to error or
congestion and are not received by the destination.
NON-NEGOTIABLE QoS PARAMETERS
• Cell Error Ratio ( CER )
This parameter measures the fraction of cells received with errors
at the destination.

CER = Errored Cells

Successfully Transferred Cells + Errored Cells
• Severely Errored Cell Block Ratio ( SECBR )

Severely Errored Cell Blocks

SECBR =
Total Transmitted Cell Blocks
• Cell Misinsertion Rate( CMR )
Misinserted Cells
CMR =
Time Interval
 RELEVANCE OF TRAFFIC PARAMETERS TO
SERVICE CATEGORIES
A T M L ayer S e rvice C ategories
A ttrib ute s CBR rt-V B R nrt-V B R UBR ABR
T raffic P a ram ete rs
PCR, CDVT sp ec ified
SCR, M BS, n /a spe cifie d n/a
CDVT
M CR n /a sp ec ifie d
Q oS P a ram eters
P ea k-to-p e ak sp ec ifie d u nsp e cified
CDV
m ax C D V sp ec ifie d u nsp e cified
CLR sp ec ified u n sp ec ifie d see n ote 1
O th e r A ttrib u tes
F ee db a ck u n sp e cified sp ec ifie d

n ote 1 : C LR is lo w fo r so urce s th at a dju st ce ll flo w in resp o nse to co n tro l in fo rm a tion .

W h eth er a qu an tita tive value fo r C LR is sp ec ifie d is n etw ork sp ecific. ATM Foundation of Broadband Networks (Volume I)
by Uyless Black, Pub. Prentice Hall, 1999
 ATM FORUM SERVICE CATEGORIES

Service Bandwidth Delay Throughput Congestion

Guarantee variation Guarantee Feedback
Guarantee
CBR Yes Yes Yes No
Rt -VBR Yes Yes Yes No

Nrt-VBR Yes No No No

ABR Yes No Somewhat Yes

UBR No No No No

ATM Foundation of Broadband Networks (Volume I)

by Uyless Black, Pub. Prentice Hall, 1999
 TRAFFIC CONTRACT

• Traffic Parameters
• Describes an inherent characteristics of a traffic source
• Source Traffic Descriptors
• Set of traffic parameters of the ATM source.
• Used during connection establishment.
• Connection Traffic Descriptor
• Specifies the traffic characteristics of the ATM connections.
• Cell Conformance and Connection
Compliance
• Conformance applies cells as they pass the UNI.
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

• Connection Admission Control (CAC)

• Usage Parameter Control (UPC)
• Traffic Shaping
• Network Resource Management
• Selective Cell Discard
• Frame Discard
• Feedback Control
CONNECTION ADMISSION CONTROL (CAC)
Can requested bandwidth and quality of service be supported?

ATM Foundation of Broadband Networks (Volume I)

by Uyless Black, Pub. Prentice Hall, 1999
USAGE PARAMETER CONTROL (UPC)
Monitor and control traffic at the network entrance.

ATM Foundation of Broadband Networks (Volume I)

by Uyless Black, Pub. Prentice Hall, 1999
 USAGE PARAMETER CONTROL (Cont. )

Virtual Scheduling Algorithm

Arrival of a cell at time ta(k)

Virtual
Scheduling
Algorithm

TAT < ta(k) ?

Yes

TAT = ta(k)
No

TAT > ta(k) + L

Yes
?

TAT Theoretical arrival time

ta(k) Time arrival of a cell
I Increment
No
L Limit
Nonconforming
cell TAT = TAT +1
Conforming cell

ATM Foundation of Broadband Networks (Volume I)

by Uyless Black, Pub. Prentice Hall, 1999
 USAGE PARAMETER CONTROL (Cont.)
Leaky Bucket Algorithm

Arrival of a cell at time ta(k)

Continuous-
State leaky
bucket
algorithm X1 = X - ( ta(k) - LCT )

X1 < 0 ?
Yes

No X1 = 0

Nonconforming
cell Yes X1 > L ?

ta(k) Time arrival of a cell

X Value of leaky bucket counter
No
X1 Auxiliary variable
X=X+1 LCT Last compliance time
LCT = ta(k)
Conforming Cell I Increment
L Limit ATM Foundation of Broadband Networks (Volume I)
by Uyless Black, Pub. Prentice Hall, 1999
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

, Connection Admission Control

, Usage Parameter Control
• Traffic Shaping
• Network Resource Management
• Selective Cell Discard
• Frame Discard
CONGESTION MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

• First in First Out (FIFO) Queue

• Priority Queuing
• Fair Queuing
• Weighted Fair Queuing
• Custom Queuing
CONGESTION AVOIDANCE MECHANISM

• Tail drop
• DEC bit
• Random Early Dropping
• Weighted Early Dropping
 ABR FLOW CONTROL

• Features
• Goal is to make unused bandwidth available to
cooperating end-users in a fair, timely manner.
• Source has the ability to increase or decrease its
flow.
• Minimum cell rate is guaranteed by the network
with minimum cell loss.
• Rate based end-to-end closed loop model.
ABR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT MODEL

Taken From Prof.Jain's site.

 ABR PARAMETERS
Label Expansion Default Value

PCR Peak Cell Rate -

MCR Minimum Cell Rate 0
ACR Allowed Cell Rate -
ICR Initial Cell Rate PCR
TCR Tagged Cell Rate 10 cells/s
Nrm Number of cells between FRM cells 32
Mrm Controls bandwidth allocation 2
between FRM, BRM and data cells
Trm Upper Bound on Inter-FRM Time 100 ms
RIF Rate Increase Factor 1/16
RDF Rate Decrease Factor 1/16
ADTF ACR Decrease Time Factor 0.5 ms
TBE Transient Buffer Exposure 16,777,215
CRM Missing RM-cell Count $\lceil$ TBE/Nrm $\rceil$
CDF Cutoff Decrease Factor 1/16
FRTT Fixed Round-Trip Time -

ATM Forum – Traffic Management Specification Version 4.0

RM CELL FORMAT

Taken from Prof. Jain’s site

 IN-RATE AND OUT-OF-RATE RM CELLS

• In-Rate Cell Type

RM cells with CLP = 0
RM cells + data cells < ACR

• Out-Of-Rate Cell Type

RM cells with CLP = 1
Generated by switches ,destinations ,sources under exceptional
circumstances.
- BECN from the switches.
- Source periodically sense the state of the network when ACR = 0
- Used by the destinations of VCs whose reverse direction ACR is
either zero or not sufficient to return all RM cells received in the
forward direction.
FEEDBACK CONTROL TECHNIQUES

• Binary Mode ABR

• Explicit Rate (ER) ABR
• Virtual Source/Virtual Destination (VS/VD) ABR
ABR FEEDBACK CONTROL TECHNIQUES
( Cont .)

Binary Mode ABR

ATM Theory and Application

by David E. McDysan and Darren L. Spohn
Pub. McGraww-Hill, 1999.
ABR FEEDBACK CONTROL TECHNIQUES
( Cont .)

Explicit Rate (ER) ABR

ATM Theory and Application

by David E. McDysan and Darren L. Spohn
Pub. McGraww-Hill, 1999.
ABR FEEDBACK CONTROL TECHNIQUES
( Cont .)

Virtual Source / Virtual Destination (VS/VD) ABR

ATM Theory and Application

by David E. McDysan and Darren L. Spohn
Pub. McGraww-Hill, 1999.
 SOURCE BEHAVIOR
1. MCR < ACR < PCR
Source Rate < ACR

2. After successful connection setup, source shall set ACR < ICR. First
in-rate cell should be forward RM cell.

3. The relative priority of data cells , FRM cells and BRM cells
( corresponding to the reverse flow ) is different at different
transmission opportunities.
 SOURCE BEHAVIOR ( Cont. )
4. Cells send with the above rules should have CLP = 0.

5. If a source does not transmit any RM cells for a time period

equal to its timeout interval ADTF( ACR Decrease time
factor ),and also if ACR >ICR ,then the ACR should be
reduced to the ICR. ADTF can be negotiated with the
network during connection setup.

6. Before sending in an in- rate forward cell, and after

following the rule #5, if CRM FRM cells have been sent
and the source did not receive any BRM,,the source should
suspect network congestion and should reduce the ACR by
at least ACR * CDF,unless the reduction would result in
value less than the MCR.
 SOURCE BEHAVIOR ( Cont. )

7. When sending an FRM , the sources should indicate their

current ACR in the CCR field of the RM cells.

8. This indicates how the network should react to network

feedback.The feedback consists of ER,CI, and the NI bits.

9. When a BRM cell is received and after the ACR is

adjusted according to the source behavior#8 ACR is set to
the most minimum of the ACR as computed in #8 and
the ER field.
 SOURCE BEHAVIOR ( Cont. )

10. Sources should initialize the various fields of the RM cell,

while generating the FRM cells.

11. FRM cells may be send out-of-rate .The out-of-rate FRM

cells shall not be sent at a rate greater than TCR.

12. The source shall reset the EFCI bit on every data cell it
sends.

13. The source may implement a use-it –or-lose-it policy to

reduce its ACR to a value which approximates the actual
cell rate transmission.
 DESTINATION BEHAVIOR
1. Destinations should monitor the EFCI bits on the incoming
cells and store the value last seen on a data cell.

2. Destinations are required to turn around the forward RM

cells with minimal modifications.The DIR bit shall be changed
from forward to backward, BN shall be set to zero and the
CCR, MCR, ER, CI, and the NI fields should not be changed
in the RM cells except under certain conditions.

3. If a forward RM cell is received by the destination, while

another turned around RM cell is scheduled for an in-rate
transmission.
• The contents of the old cell are overwritten by the contents of the
new cell.
• The old cell after being overwritten be sent out-of-rate;or it may be
discarded or remain scheduled for an in-rate transmission.
• It is required that the new cell be scheduled for an in-rate
transmission.
 DESTINATION BEHAVIOR (Cont.)

4. Regardless of the alternatives chosen in the destination behavior

#3 , the contents of the an older cell shall not be transmitted after
the contents of a new cell have been transmitted.

5. A destination may generate a BRM without having received the

FRM cell , in a situation where the destination wants to inform
the source to reduce its rate immediately.

6. An out-of-rate FRM with CLP = 1 is turned around,it may be

sent in-rate or out-of-rate.
 RESEARCH

• Many new algorithms are being implemented to

improve the “Explicit Congestion Notification”.

• Analysis of QoS parameters over Multiprotocol

Label Switching using Traffic Engineering.

• Analyze the behavior of the service categories under

heavy traffic network using various techniques.