Dynamic band width allocation in communication systems: An optimal control approach

The contribution offered in this paper is the formulation and solution of an optimal bandwidth allocation strategy for virtual paths in broadband ISDN under nonstationary conditions. A state variable modeling approach is adopted to describe the dynamic behavior of the virtual path for different traffic classes. The problem is treated by Hamilton-Jacobi arguments, to formulate an optimal capacity allocation strategy for the equilibrium costae case. This is compared, using simulation, with the general solution of the problem. Our approach to the optimal capacity allocation problem differs from the majority of existing literature on the optimal control of queuing systems which are based on the assumption of steady state queuing models. We deal with the more pragmatic case of a nonstationary network behavior i.e. we seek to optimize time varying averages rather than steady state averages.