Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2005 / iii / Paper 36 / 4 / b / Solution

The capacity and quality targets alone do not determine flow counts: the per-flow traffic statistics must also be supplied. The following explicit model gives a computable sufficient region, with genuine upper bounds on both loss fractions.

Measure queue workload and buffer size in bits. Denote capacity by $C$, shared buffer size by $B$, voice delay limit by $D$, target voice loss by ${\ell }_v$, and target data loss by ${\ell }_d$, with $0<{\ell }_v,{\ell }_d<1$. Let there be $n_v$ voice flows and $n_d$ data flows. Model each class-$j$ flow, $j\in \{v,d\}$, by a stationary Compound Poisson process with packet rate ${\nu }_j$ and positive independent packet sizes $S_j$, and assume independence across flows and marks. Use a work-conserving preemptive-resume priority queue with a shared buffer, with voice priority and first come first served within each class. This preemptive or fluid approximation makes the predicted voice waiting time exactly $V/C$, where $V$ is the remaining voice queue workload just before arrival. Assume packet sizes are bounded by a known $s_{\max }<B$ and interpret the buffer gate as a packet-fit test; rejecting packets which do not fit is the packet version of the full-buffer rule.

For one flow the Compound Poisson process formula givesFor fixed-size packets of size $s_j$, substitute $e^{\theta s_j}$. Estimate the packet rate and size law from measurements or a declared traffic contract. Also require the strict stability inequalityDefine $B_0=B-s_{\max }>0$ and $K=CD$. Couple the switch with an unthinned infinite-buffer aggregate queue and an unthinned infinite-buffer voice-only queue, both driven by the same offered packets and both served at rate $C$. Under the preemptive service discipline, dropping arrivals can only decrease both the total queue workload and the voice queue workload. Thus total switch queue workload $Q$ and voice queue workload $V$ satisfy $Q\le W_T$ and $V\le W_V$ in the stationary coupling. A packet-fit loss implies $Q>B-S_j\ge B_0$, and a voice-delay rejection implies $V\ge K$.

Apply the continuous-time exponential workload bound to the two comparison queues. For any positive ${\theta }_T,{\theta }_V$ satisfyingthe stationary loss-event probabilities obeyThe second inequality is a union bound: voice can be lost either at the shared buffer or at its delay gate. Data congestion therefore contributes to voice loss despite its lower service priority. Poisson arrivals see time averages applies to each offered packet stream, whose future arrivals are independent of the prearrival state; the stationary event bounds are consequently bounds on the offered-packet loss fractions. Voice packets that are admitted have queueing delay below $D$, because later voice packets join behind them and data work cannot delay them in this model.

To turn the bounds into flow counts, allocate loss budgetsFor example, ${\eta }_B=\min ({\ell }_d,{\ell }_v/2)$ and ${\eta }_V={\ell }_v-{\eta }_B$ also work; equality with ${\ell }_d$ is harmless. The required sufficient effective-bandwidth admission region with a voice delay gate isIt ensures $p_d\le {\ell }_d$ and $p_v\le {\ell }_v$. A simple enumeration isdiscarding negative bounds and pairs failing strict mean-load stability. The formulas assume positive-rate nonzero-size flows. Optimize a chosen revenue or flow-count objective over these integer pairs. Searching over the budget split ${\eta }_B$ can enlarge the sufficient region. For a bit-fluid buffer gate with no packet-fit issue, $B_0$ can be replaced by $B$.

Real nonpreemptive packet service needs an additional residual-service allowance or an explicit priority queue workload analysis: a voice packet may have to wait for the data packet already in service. Burst-correlated voice sources also require richer descriptors, such as measured finite-time effective bandwidths ${\alpha }_j(\theta ,t)$ or a Markov-modulated source model. For such inputs, additivity still holds for independent flows, but the independent-increment supermartingale bound is not automatic; use a valid sample-path large deviation principle or a model-specific overflow bound, with prefactors or a safety margin when using asymptotics. If packet arrivals do not form a Poisson process, loss fractions must be assessed at arrival epochs rather than inferred solely from time-average queue workload probabilities. These qualifications explain both how to calculate an admission region from specified traffic statistics and why the five switch/QoS parameters by themselves cannot supply a numerical answer.