Packet-Level Link Capacity Evaluation for IP Networks

In recent times, with many applications, the IP networks have become the most powerful tool for sharing information. Best-effort IP interconnected networks deliver data according to the available resources, without any assurance of throughput, delay bounds, or reliability requirements. As a result, their performance is highly variable and cannot be guaranteed. In IP networks, ensuring proper link capacity at the packet level is a challenging problem. In this article, a method to evaluate the link capacity of IP networks at the packet level based on a single server delay system with state-dependent arrival and departure processes is suggested. The dependence of the traffic being carried on the queue length and on the defined waiting time is shown. Presented graphic dependencies allow for defined quality of service, namely the probability of packet loss and admissible delays, to determine the carried traffic of the links.