Performance modeling of heterogeneous data networks

A heterogeneous data network consists of Local Area Networks (LANs) interconnected with either leased lines, packet-switched networks, Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), or combinations thereof. Heterogeneous networks are characterized by bursty traffic, nested segmentation and reassembly of packets, window flow control and round-robin channel access. The authors develop a performance methodology for estimating user perceived delay and buffer overflow in heterogeneous data networks. The methodology is based on well-known two-moment approximation schemes. Modifications of these schemes are proposed in order to model the bandwidth allocation policies of the MANs and to capture the burstiness of the traffic. The methodology is applied to several LAN-MAN and LAN-MAN-WAN network examples.