Active queue management for alleviating Internet congestion via a nonlinear differential equation with a variable delay

Abstract

Active Queue Management (AQM) for mitigating Internet congestion has been addressed via various feedback control syntheses, especially P, PI, and PID regulators, by using a linear approximation where the “round trip time,” i.e., the delay, is assumed to be constant. This constraint is lifted here by using a nonlinear modeling with a variable delay, introduced more than 20 years ago. This delay, intimately linked to the congestion phenomenon, may be viewed as “ a flat output.” All other system variables, especially the control variable, i.e., the packet loss ratio, are expressed as a function of the delay and its derivatives: they are frozen if the delay is kept constant. This flatness-like property, which demonstrates the mathematical discrepancy of the linear approximation adopted until today, yields also our control strategy in two steps: Firstly, designing an open-loop control, thanks to straightforward Flatness-Based Control (FBC) techniques, and secondly, closing the loop via Model-Free Control (MFC) in order to take into account severe model mismatches, like, here, the number of TCP sessions. Several convincing computer simulations, which are easily implementable, are presented and discussed.