Matching fairness and performance by preventive traffic control in optical multiple access networks

Abstract

We present and evaluate a novel protocol of traffic control that aims at solving the fairness issue typical of shared medium networks such as metropolitan rings. The proposed solution called TCARD (Traffic Control Architecture using Remote Descriptors) is based on a preventive mechanism to grant access to the resource -- i.e. free bandwidth is preserved by a node according to the traffic requirements from the other network nodes. A review of the existing methods used to manage fairness in ring networks is done and points out their inherent problems (performance issues, resource wastage or inadequacy). In contrast, we show how the new protocol addresses the above limitations, notably through a performance evaluation study. The major conclusion is the ability to avoid the degradation in performances and the resource sub-utilization while achieving fairness within the network.