Evaluation of reservation-arbitrated access schemes for statistical multiplexing of variable-bit-rate video traffic over dual-bus metropolitan area networks

To address the problem of video communications over 802.6 MANs, a reservation-arbitrated (RA) access protocol is proposed which allows a variable-bit-rate video source to reserve isochronous channels on a bandwidth-on-demand basis. The paper explains the general method of RA access, compares four different schemes of acquiring incremental bandwidth in response to a reservation request, and evaluates the performance of RA access by simulations using two video-source models. Results indicate that RA access provides fair service under a cyclic capturing mechanism, permits statistical multiplexing while providing nearly isochronous transport service, allows a video source to adapt to its reserved bandwidth during network congestion, and facilitates the implementation of layered video coding techniques.