Dynamic bandwidth allocation and congestion control schemes for voice and data multiplexing in wideband packet technology

The author describes a novel bandwidth allocation method called the (T/sub 1/, T/sub 2/) scheme. It efficiently integrates packetized voice and data traffic. Voice and data packets are queued separately, and the (T/sub 1/, T/sub 2/) scheme is used to facilitate dynamic bandwidth sharing and mutual overload protection between the two queues. T/sub 1/ and T/sub 2/ are time limits for transmitting voice and data packets continually while the voice and data queues are visited alternately. The scheme guarantees bandwidths to voice and data in the proportion of their respective time slice allocations, T/sub 1/ and T/sub 2/. However, the bandwidth allocations are flexible in the sense that whenever one queue is exhausted, the transmission is immediately moved over to the other queue if it has a packet waiting to be served. The system also implements a voice block dropping scheme in which the less significant bits in voice packets are dropped during periods of congestion. The author presents results based on a simulation model which illustrate that the two schemes together provide the desired performance in terms of very good voice quality, low delay and packet loss, efficient use of transmission bandwidth, and protection in overload.<>