Congestion control algorithms for the ABR service in ATM networks

The Available Bit Rate (ABR) service has been introduced by the ATM Forum for the inexpensive support of applications with low requirements on throughput and delay, In this paper, we propose an implementation of the Enhanced Proportional Rate Control Algorithm (EPRCA) that exploits the congestion information at the switch level and is able to improve the network performance in terms of stability and fairness. This modified algorithm adopts a fast congestion detection technique, and uses the Explicit Rate (ER) field in the Resource Management ATM cells. Numerical results show that the management of the ER information at each network switch is mandatory to provide high throughput, and fair and stable behavior of the ABR service in a wide area network scenario.