BUFFER DIMENSIONING CRITERIA FOR AN ATM MULTIPLEXER LOADED WITH HOMOGENEOUS ON-OFF SOURCES

In this paper we face the buffer dimensioning issue for an A TM multiplexer. whose input consists of the superposition of homogeneous ON-OFF sources. each modcled by a two-state markovian process. Our approach is based on a simple and accurate analytical model. which approximates the actual input process by means of a suitably chosen two-state Markov Modulated Poisson Process (MMPP). In this papeI'. fll'Stly an efficient procedure for the computation of the loss probability of the MMPP/G/l/K queue is derived. Then. this procedure is applied to the ctueueing model of the A TM multiplexer. The numerical results here presented let us gain a deep insight into the multiplexer performance behav~ as the source parameters (peak bit rate. mean burst length and activity factor) are varied. This enables us to establish simple and effective buffer dimensioning criteria.