A general framework for deterministic service guarantees in telecommunication networks with variable length packets

Proposes a direct, simple and general treatment for providing deterministic quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees in telecommunication networks with variable-length packets. The traffic in such networks is modelled by marked point processes that consist of two sequences of variables: the arrival times and the packet lengths. We propose a new traffic characterization, called g-regularity, to characterise a marked point process. Based on the new traffic characterizations, we introduce two basic network elements: (i) traffic regulators that generate g-regular marked point processes, and (ii) g-servers that provide QoS for marked point processes. Network elements can be joined by concatenation, "filter bank summation" and feedback to form a composite network element. We illustrate the use of the framework by various examples that include G/G/1 queues, VirtualClock, guaranteed rate servers in tandem, segmentation and reassembly, jitter control, dampers, window flow control, and queues with service curve-based earliest deadlines.