Performance of VBR Packet Video Communications on an Ethernet LAN: A Trace-Driven Simulation Study

Provision of multimedia communication services on today’s packet-switched network infrastructure is becoming increasingly feasible. However, there remains a lack of information regarding the performance of multimedia sources operating in bursty data traffic conditions. In this study, a videotelephony system deployed on the Ethernet LAN is simulated, employing high time-resolution LAN traces as the data traffic load. In comparison with Poisson traffic models, the trace-driven cases produce highly variable packet delays, and higher packet loss, thereby degrading video traffic performance. In order to compensate for these effects, a delay control scheme based on a timed packet dropping algorithm is examined. Simulations of the scheme indicate that improvements in real time loss rates of videotelphony sources can be achieved.