Bandwidth allocation in ATM networks

In an ATM network, bandwidth is allocated at different levels and in different stages. At the physical level, the ATM topology can be dynamically reconfigured by adding/removing trunks between ATM switches. This allocation of bandwidth is made possible by the SONET Synchronous Transfer Mode (STM) infrastructure equipped with Digital Cross Connect Systems (DCSs). The authors will refer to this allocation as STM allocation. At the ATM level, they can allocate bandwidth to individual Virtual Circuits (ATM-VC allocation) as well as to Virtual Paths (ATM-VP allocation). For example, in order to implement the Connectionless Network Access layer functions the authors find it convenient to organize the Virtual Paths in a Connectionless Overlay Network. This introduces another type of bandwidth allocation (CLS allocation). In this paper, the authors address and formulate the above bandwidth allocation problems, and propose efficient techniques for their solution. They illustrate these techniques with examples based on STM and CLS allocation, respectively.