The effect of management structure on the performance of interconnected high-speed packet-switched networks

A multilayer model is used to study the effect of management structure on the performance of connection-oriented packet-switched networks managed via fixed threshold call admission policies. Call admission will be critical to future-generation high-speed packet-switched networks such as ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) networks because high volumes of time-critical traffic require the minimization of per-packet processing at the switches, thus shifting the primary burden for congestion control to the periphery. Noisy state estimates are the result of uncertainties in measured state information or the result of using untimely information. The standard deviation of collected information concerning network status serves as a key parameter in representing the complexity, coverage, extensiveness, and cost of the implemented network management and information collecting procedure. In a multidomain network a particular network management/controller may have complete information about its own domain but limited, aggregated, or untimely information about other domains. Trade-offs between centralized and distributed decision-making are discussed, and a mechanism is provided for comparing various management structures as well as determining good values for admission control thresholds.<>