CWI identifies causes of congestion in communication networks

CWI's Ph.D. student Miranda van Uitert has identified a number of causes of congestion in Generalized Processor Sharing (GPS) communication networks. GPS is a technique to schedule incoming network traffic at switches. Bandwidth is assigned to different types of traffic according to pre-defined weights. GPS allows the network operator to prioritize traffic types that require small delays like voice data over less demanding types like e-mail.
For a number of different scenarios van Uitert computed what kind of user behaviour is most likely to cause congestion problems at switches. In some cases she also computed the probability this behaviour occurs. Her results contribute to the research of queuing problems in communication networks. In the future this could lead to more economic use of bandwidth.
Van Uitert conducted her research at CWI's Advanced Communication Networks theme. She defends her thesis at the Eindhoven University of Technology on November 24, 2003.