Robustness Results for Hierarchical Diff-EDF Scheduling upon Heterogeneous Real-Time Packet Networks

Packet networks are currently enabling the integration of traffic with a wide range of characteristics that extend from video traffic with stringent QoS requirements to the best-effort traffic requiring no guarantees. QoS guarantees can be provided in conventional packet networks by the use of proper packet scheduling algorithms. As a computer revolution, many scheduling algorithms have been proposed to provide different schemes of QoS guarantees with Earliest Deadline First (EDF) as the most popular one. With EDF scheduling, all flows receive the same miss rate regardless of their traffic characteristics and deadlines. This makes the standard EDF algorithm unsuitable for situations in which the different flows have different miss rate requirements since in order to meet all miss rate requirements it is necessary to limit admissions so as to satisfy the flow with the most stringent miss rate requirements. In this study, we propose a new priority assignment scheduling algorithm, Hierarchal Diff-EDF (Differentiate Earliest Deadline First), which can meet the real-time needs of these applications while continuing to provide best effort service to non-real time traffic. The Hierarchal Diff-EDF features a feedback control mechanism that detects overload conditions and modifies packet priority assignments accordingly.