Improved VC-merging for multiway communications in ATM networks

The routing and signaling protocols for supporting multipoint-to-multipoint connections in ATM networks have been presented earlier VP-Merge and VC-Merge techniques have been proposed as the likely candidates for resolving the sender identification problem associated, with these connections. The additional buffer requirements in the VC-Merge mechanism and the excessive nse of VPI/VCI space in the VP-Merge mechanism have been the main reasons for concern about their effective utility: In this paper; rye propose improvements to the traditional VC-Merge technique to minimize the need for additional buffers at intermediate merge points. Aptly named Dynamic Multiple VC-Merge (DMVC), Fixed Multiple VC-Merge (FMVC) and Selective Multiple VC-Merge (SMVC), these mechanisms define a generic scheme for merging the data from multiple senders onto one or more outgoing links. By appropriately choosing the number of connection identifiers per connection, these schemes lead to a large reduction in the buffer requirements and an effective utilization of the VPI/VCI space. Based on extensive simulations, rye show that by using two connection identifiers per connection, there is an 80% reduction in buffer requirements for DMVC and FMVC when compared to the buffer required for traditional VC-Merge.