An input rate flow control mechanism, the burst level feedback scheme, is introduced and studied. Burst level information is used to gain performance improvement. An analytical methodology, based on queuing models, is presented for the analysis and performance evaluation of this scheme. Performance results are shown to illustrate the features of the analytical technique and to demonstrate the performance improvement obtained by the scheme. This input rate control method is shown to be effective for traffic regulation at the access to an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network loaded by highly bursty stations. The analytical tools developed allow the system designer to evaluate the proper level of input regulation that should be used to guarantee acceptable queue-size and delay levels at the source station's buffer and at the buffer of the shared network switch.>

A credit manager algorithm (CMA) is introduced and used to control the flow of packets between a subscriber station (or a local area network) and the access to a high-speed metropolitan area network. The parameters of the algorithm are used to regulate the mean throughput and the level of burstiness at the subscriber-to-network interface (SNI). Simulation results are presented for the average system size at the SNI, representing the packet delays at the sender's buffer. The regulated output traffic across the SNI is statistically characterized by categorizing its states into three modes; idle, burst, and restricted modes. Presented also is a model for the queueing behavior of an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)-type system, where single segment packets (cells) are served. A numerical method is used to solve for the underlying system state probabilities.>