Performance evaluation of fair packet discarding in network with multiple bottlenecks

Fair packet discarding (FPD) is a mechanism which provides incentives to users for participation in congestion control, such that ATM networks can operate in a more efficient manner. The authors study the performance of FPD in a general network with multiple bottlenecks. By simulations, they show that the interaction between FPD and ATM Forum's explicit-rate flow control enables the packet-level throughput of each connection converging to the max-min fair apportionment in a distributed manner. With the built-in policing capability of FPD, the need of dynamic usage parameter control for ABR service is also eliminated.