A Congestion Control Mechanism for Signaling Networks Based on Network Delays

Congestion control in Signaling System #7 faces new challenges as mobile communication systems and Intelligent Networks grow rapidly. New services change traffic patterns, add to signalling network load, and raise demands on shorter service completion times. To handle new demands, the congestion control mechanisms must foresee an overload situation, and respond to it so that the network can maintain high probability for successful service completion. With the introduction of a state machine and a memory function for each signaling link it is possible to predict the completion time of a service session and to detect an emerging congestion. If the predicted completion time of a service session is too long, the session is annihilated. This is the foundation of a congestion control mechanism that reacts fast on information supplied by the congested part of the network. The congestion control mechanism increases the ratio of successfully completed service sessions during congestion by several hundred percent.