Dynamic resource allocation in communication networks

Efficient dynamic resource provisioning algorithms are necessary to the development and automation of Quality of Service (QoS) networks. The main goal of these algorithms is to offer services that satisfy the QoS requirements of individual users while guaranteeing at the same time an efficient utilization of network resources. In this paper we introduce a new service model that provides quantitative per-flow bandwidth guarantees, where users subscribe for a guaranteed rate; moreover, the network periodically individuates unused bandwidth and proposes short-term contracts where extra-bandwidth is allocated and guaranteed exclusively to users who can exploit it to transmit at a rate higher than their subscribed rate. To implement this service model we propose a dynamic provisioning architecture for intra-domain Quality of Service networks. We develop an efficient bandwidth allocation algorithm that takes explicitly into account traffic statistics to increase the users' benefit and the network revenue simultaneously. We demonstrate through simulation in realistic network scenarios that the proposed dynamic provisioning model is superior to static provisioning in providing resource allocation both in terms of total accepted load and network revenue.