In advance activation of backup channels for real-time transmission

Real-time transmission implies guaranteeing a given quality of service (QoS), requiring large use of network resources. Backup channels introduce the notion of availability to real-time transmission at the cost of increasing the use of network resources. However, this over-provisioning of resources is potentially wasted, since fault rate is very low. This paper introduces a new failure detection scheme for real-time transmission called proactive backup channel. This scheme is based on activating the backup channel before a fail is produced. As proven in the paper, this scheme reduces the use of network resources and is suitable for integrated and differentiated services.