An architecture for high-speed packet-switched networks

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:5827197

Yavatkar, R S

The emergence of performance intensive distributed applications is making new demands on computer networks. Distributed applications access computing resources and information available at multiple computers located across a network. Realizing such distributed applications over geographically distant areas requires access to predictable and high performance communication. Circuit switching and packet switching are two possible techniques for providing high performance communication. Circuit switched networks preallocate resources to individual sources of traffic before any traffic is sent, whereas packet switched networks allocate resources dynamically as the traffic travels through the network. The advantage of circuit switching lies in guaranteed performance due to reserved capacity, but the network capacity is wasted when circuits are idle. Packet switched networks have been preferred in data networks due to their lower cost and efficient utilization of network resources. However, the major limitation of current packet switched networks lies in their inability to provide predictable performance. This dissertation proposes a new architecture for providing predictable high performance in high speed packet switched networks. The architecture combines the advantages of circuit switching and packet switching by providing two services: datagrams and flows. The datagram service supports best-effort delivery of traffic. The main liability of a datagram service lies in congestion. To avoid congestion, the architecture uses a novel, rate-based congestion control scheme. To support applications that demand specific performance guarantees, the architecture provides an abstraction called a flow. A flow is a communication channel that has specific performance characteristics associated with its traffic. When requesting a flow, a source specifies the performance needs and a destination.

• Research Organization: Purdue Univ., Lafayette, IN (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5827197
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990200* -- Mathematics & Computers
COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE
COMPUTER NETWORKS
CONTROL
DATA PROCESSING
DATA TAGGING
DATA-FLOW PROCESSING
DISTRIBUTED DATA PROCESSING
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
EQUATIONS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PREDICTION EQUATIONS
PROCESSING
PROGRAMMING
SWITCHING CIRCUITS
TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION
TESTING