Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/T23725/01
Title:	Modelling Data Loss in Large Packet-Switched Communication Networks
Principal Investigator:	Constantinou, Professor CC
Other Investigators:	Lerner, Professor I
Researcher Co-Investigators:	Dr I Yurkevich
Project Partners:
Department:	Electronic, Electrical and Computer Eng
Organisation:	University of Birmingham
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 October 2004	Ends:	31 January 2008	Value (£):	481,001
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Networks & Distributed Systems
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Packet-switched networks are normally under-utilised in terms of capacity, as no clear understanding exists of the value of external traffic loading which separates their normal from their lossy modes of operation. The existence of packet losses due to isolated rare events are known to result in heavy data losses across the Internet, despite of the fact that, on average, the network did not reach its congestion threshold.This clearly indicates the need to model and understand the early signs of congestion. The idea of the current proposal is to launch a new collaboration based on the complementary expertise of the two disciplines to build and solve a new class of models describing the data loss in realistic networks.We propose. to formulate a model of packet-switched networks, which is both realistic and tractable. The main realistic features that we will preserve are, the discrete nature of network traffic, the dynamical randomness in the amount and timing of input traffic, as well as its destination, the complexity of real network topologies, and the existence of the routing protocol. To make the model tractable we shall use suitable approximations, typical of theoretical physics approaches.Most existing work in modelling network traffic is suitable for reservation-based networks. A crucial difference in modelling packet-switched networks such as the Internet lies in the statistical multiplexing of data in the latter, i.e. the division of traffic into packets occupying network resources for suitably small durations. Therefore, a fundamental feature of our model will be accounting for the fact that the packet duration and packet switching-time are orders of magnitude shorter than all the other time scales in the communication process.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.bham.ac.uk