Simulation of flow control schemes- backpressure and window control

Abstract

Nodal buffers in a communication network are limited. The allocation of these buffers affects network performance characterisfics such as delay, throughput and fairness. We study the performance characteristics of a flow control technique known as backpressure which is based on finite buffer allocation via simulation. Two other schemes, namely window flow control and combination of backpressure with window control are also investigated and compared under different traffic conditions. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effects of the schemes on fairness under different traffic load environments. It is found that the combination of backpressure with window control is the best strategy in that it provides a fair bandwidth allocation under heavy traffic load.

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