Real-time ATM traffic measurements and analysis

We have recorded and analysed traffic generated by a set of real ATM terminal implementations running file transfer and desktop conference applications. The recorded traffic is analysed in terms of parameters essential for ATM network dimensioning: allocated link capacity, CDV tolerance, and buffer requirements. The measurement data are used to evaluate the resource requirement of each measured implementation. We conclude that currently available ATM terminal equipment indicate a need for very large network element buffers. Finally, we compare ATM traffic shaping and AAL MTU size variation as principles to control the statistics of the generated traffic. ATM traffic shaping proved to drastically improve network utilisation for the investigated cases.