Network control and usage-based charging: is charging for volume adequate?

Abstract

There has been extensive research on the applierdion of the efFective bandwidth concept for quantifying resource usage in order to create simple yet eRective usag~based charging schemes with desirable incentive properties. This research has shown that simple charging schemes which involve two measurements, time and volume, can serve their purpose well by producing adequate approximations of the effective usage of a lmrsty trailic stream. An issne that has not been addressed in detail is the relation between the type of admission control meehanism the network uses and the definition of efective usage. b particular, the above charging schemes assume “static” Connection Admission Control (C.4C). Ii contrast to static C..4C, “dynamic” C.4C strategies utilize on-line measurements of the actual load, hence can achieve mnrihhigher utilization. We argue that under such dynamic strategies the efective usage concept mnst be redefined, and that when control actions occur at faster time scales than the burstiness of the sources, the eifective usage approaches the mean rate of the sonrces. In addition to jnstifjing the potential use of simple ~olnrm+based tarii%, the above justifies the deployment of sophisticated dynamic admission control mechanism s, since these result in more competitive prices.