New Architecture for Packet Switching Network Protocols.

摘要

This dissertation presents a new architecture, the Flow Network, for packet switching network protocols. The Flow Network can provide users high quality, guaranteed service in terms of average latency and throughput. Rather than an end-point control with a stateless network model, the Flow Network design emphasizes regulation of packet traffic by the network. Rather than window flow control, the Flow Network controls the average transmission rate of individual users. Rather than relying on feedback control, the Flow Network requires users to reserve resources. An abstract entity, a flow, is defined to represent users's data transmission requests. A flow is associated with a specific set of service requirements, which allows application to express their requirement in a quantitive manner. This specification enables the network to check whether adequate resources are available before accepting new transmission requests. It also serves as a contract between the network and the user: it is used as a measure that the network service should meet, as well as a constraint that the user's transmission behavior must adhere to. A new channel scheduling method called the Virtual Clock mechanism is developed to regulate packet flows in the Flow Network. The Virtual Clock mechanism monitors the average transmission rate of each statistical data flow and provides firewalls among flows, as in a TDM system, but with the statistical multiplexing advantages of packet switching. Simulation is used as a design aid and a verification tool throughout this research. Theses. (RRH)