A fair buffer allocation scheme

An appropriate service for data traffic in Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks requires large buffers in network nodes. However, large buffers without a proper allocation scheme may lead to an unsatisfactory quality of service. Most present allocation schemes either necessitate a complicated queueing system or they do not offer a sufficient fairness. This paper describes a rather simple buffer management scheme that results in fair allocation of bandwidth among competing connections by using only a FIFO buffer. The performance and fairness of the allocation scheme has been analysed by means of a simulation program. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.