Performance analysis of a shared-medium ATM switch with multicast traffic

This paper analyzes the performance of a bandwidth-limited, input-queued, shared-medium ATM switch supporting multicast traffic. Our goal is to quantify the effect of the medium bandwidth on the switch performance, an important issue that has not been studied heretofore. We present a queueing analysis that takes into account the dynamics of the queueing process at the input ports, the limited bandwidth of the shared medium, and the multicast nature of the offered traffic. The maximum switch throughput is obtained analytically. It is found that increasing the medium bandwidth beyond a certain range yields diminishing returns, especially with large fanout sizes. The accuracy of the analysis is verified through Monte Carlo simulations.