Interactive end-of-chapter exercises


Queuing Delay

Consider the queuing delay in a router buffer, where the packet experiences a delay as it waits to be transmitted onto the link. The length of the queuing delay of a specific packet will depend on the number of earlier-arriving packets that are queued and waiting for transmission onto the link. If the queue is empty and no other packet is currently being transmitted, then our packet’s queuing delay will be zero. On the other hand, if the traffic is heavy and many other packets are also waiting to be transmitted, the queuing delay will be long.

Assume a constant transmission rate of R = 500000 bps, a constant packet-length L = 4700 bits, and a is the average rate of packets/second. Traffic intensity I = La/R, and the queuing delay is calculated as I(L/R)(1 - I) for I < 1.



Question List


1. In practice, does the queuing delay tend to vary a lot? Answer with Yes or No

2. Assuming that a = 36, what is the queuing delay? Give your answer in milliseconds (ms)

3. Assuming that a = 63, what is the queuing delay? Give your answer in milliseconds (ms)

4. Assuming the router's buffer is infinite, the queuing delay is 2.2701 ms, and 1293 packets arrive. How many packets will be in the buffer 1 second later?

5. If the buffer has a maximum size of 549 packets, how many of the 1293 packets would be dropped upon arrival from the previous question?




Solution


1. Yes, in practice, queuing delay can vary significantly. We use the above formulas as a way to give a rough estimate, but in a real-life scenario it is much more complicated.

2. Queuing Delay = I(L/R)(1 - I) * 1000 = 0.3384*(4700/500000)*(1-0.3384) * 1000 = 2.1045 ms.

3. Queuing Delay = I(L/R)(1 - I) * 1000 = 0.5922*(4700/500000)*(1-0.5922) * 1000 = 2.2701 ms.

4. Packets left in buffer = a - floor(1000/delay) = 1293 - floor(1000/2.2701) = 853 packets.

5. Packets dropped = packets - buffer size = 1293 - 549 = 744 dropped packets.



That's incorrect

That's correct

The answer was: Yes

Question 1 of 5

The answer was: 2.1045

Question 2 of 5

The answer was: 2.2701

Question 3 of 5

The answer was: 853

Question 4 of 5

The answer was: 744

Question 5 of 5

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We greatly appreciate the work of John Broderick (UMass '21) in helping to develop these interactive problems.

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