Virtual time scheduling in HFC networks with support for priority implementation

✍ Scribed by A.E Kamal; A Boujarwah; J Al-Dallal

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 429 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0140-3664
• DOI: 10.1016/s0140-3664(00)00198-5

✦ Synopsis

This paper proposes the application of virtual time scheduling to the request admission mechanism used in the IEEE 802.14 MAC protocol. For each contention minislot, arrivals within a certain interval are allowed to contend for transmission. The length of this interval is determined using one of two clock increments, depending on whether the virtual time lags behind the actual time or not. The virtual time is based on a mapping involving the unused contention minislots, and the frame length. It is shown through simulation that virtual time scheduling enhances the system performance and results in a close to FCFS strategy. In addition, through the differential handling of virtual clocks of the different user classes, virtual time scheduling can be used to implement prioritized access. Simulation experiments are also used to show the merit of this priority mechanism. An important feature of the proposed virtual time scheduling is that it does not require any changes to the standard IEEE 802.14 frame format or access mechanisms.