Performance evaluation of packet discard schemes in ATM switches in heterogeneous traffic environment

In this paper, we study the performance of different packet discard schemes in ATM switches in a heterogeneous traffic environment. The throughput, fairness and delay characteristics of different packet discard schemes are studied in the environment of heterogeneous traffic and in the environment of fixed and time-varying available bandwidth. Through performance comparison, we show that the queuing system with EPD (early packet discard) algorithm gives higher goodput to the sources near it, and the sources far away from the system have lower goodput. It is necessary to integrate the RED (random early detection) algorithm with the EPD algorithm and the RED+EPD algorithm can provide relatively fair goodput to heterogeneous traffic. An ATM switch with the RED+EPD algorithm can provide higher throughput, better fairness and smaller delay than the EPD algorithm, so it can support the traffic with delay requirement.