Survey on traffic control in atm networks based on traffic theory

Abstract This paper presents a survey on the result of researches on the traffic control in the ATM network, together with future problems. In the ATM network, all data are transmitted, being divided into fixed‐length blocks of several tens Bytes called cells. Consequently, a new traffic model is required which is different from the conventional models. As the traffic model suited to the ATM network, this paper discusses first the model which considers the burstiness of the traffic. The purpose in constructing an ATM network is to provide an efficient channel for various media with diversified traffic patterns, from the low speed to the high speed, in the multimedia environment by utilizing the effect of the statistical multiplexing. Next, the traffic multiplexing effect is discussed considering the burstiness of the traffic. Finally, as the traffic control required in the ATM network to satisfy the “communication quality depending on each medium,” a control method is discussed which considers more than one processing class.