Threshold control policies for bandwidth allocation problem in communication networks

It has been known that in control problems of queueing systems optimal policies are often of the "switch"-form or "threshold"-type. The use of queueing models in communication networks leads naturally to problems of bandwidth allocation that can be similarly modeled and solved in terms of easy-to-implement threshold control policies. In this paper we discuss in detail two bandwidth allocation problems that are amenable to this approach. The first concerns a simple server-activation problem in which the servers offer deterministic service times, thus modeling more accurately packet-switched systems, and the second involves the integration of voice and data at a single multiplexing node that uses a switch-function for voice admission control. The latter problem was actually studied in a real experimental setting over the NASA Advanced Communication Technology Satellite (ACTS).