In [ 2], we had proposed a general definition of fairness, and gave an overload based ABR (available bit rate) switch scheme which provides MCR (minimum cell rate) guarantees. In this contribution, we propose three additional algorithms which use the overload factor to calculate the explicit rate feedback. All the proposed algorithms provide MCR guarantee and generalized fairness.
The load factor (also referred to as ``overload factor'' or ``overload'') is the ratio of the measured input rate to the available ABR (available bit rate) capacity. Our switch schemes monitor the load on the link and calculate feedback [ 4, 1] based on the load. The switch schemes try to achieve unit load to efficiently use the link and also converge to max-min fairness [ 5]. Max-min fairness assumes zero MCR values. In this contribution, we have used the generalized fairness with MCR as defined in [ 2].
The proposed algorithms are similar to the ERICA+ scheme [ 1]. We first briefly describe ERICA+ and then the algorithms proposed. The algorithms are tested using simulations on various configurations. The simulations test whether the schemes provide MCR guarantees and converge to generalized fairness. We give a comparison of the algorithms based on the simulations results.