On the behavior of control token protocols with asynchronous and synchronous traffic

Timed token protocols are both used to handle, on the same local area network, both real-time and non-real-time traffic. The authors analyze this type of protocols, giving worst-case values for the throughput of non-real-time traffic and the average token rotation time. The results were obtained for synchronous traffic generated according to a generic periodic pattern, under heavy traffic conditions. Finally, it is shown that the difference between the values obtained under worst-case assumptions are close to those obtained under best-case assumptions. Therefore, the method presented here may be used to provide important guidelines so as to properly tune timed token protocol parameters for each specific network installation.<>