The notion of cost and quality in packet switched networks: An abstract approach

The notion of quality is an important factor in the design of any complex communication system. Since most communication systems are increasingly dependent on packet switching as the underlying transport mechanism, this paper explores the impact of levels of quality that a packet switched system can have on cost. Several interesting results are presented that result in the notion of an optimum level of load that a packet switched system can handle given a defined upper bound on latency that a specified percentage of packets would suffer. The results presented offer a fresh insight into the relationship between cost and quality and can be used to optimize the throughput of a packet switched system under specified levels of quality.