Computing call admission capacities in linear networks

We study call admission rates in a linear communication network with each call identified by an arrival time, duration, bandwidth requirement, and origin–destination pair. Network links all have the same bandwidth capacity, and a call can be admitted only if there is sufficient bandwidth available on every link along the call's path. Calls not admitted are held in a queue, in contrast to the protocol of loss networks. We determine maximum admission rates (capacities) under greedy call allocation rules such as First Fit and Best Fit for several baseline models and prove that the natural necessary condition for stability is sufficient. We establish the close connections between our new problems and the classic problems of bin packing and interval packing. In view of these connections, it is surprising to find that Best Fit allocation policies are inferior to First Fit policies in the models studied.