A new design for end-to-end proportional loss differentiation in IP networks

This paper describes the algorithms and the architecture of a network able to provide end-to-end proportional packet loss probabilities at the flow level. We show that the combination of a simple classification technique at the sources, and a network core having two internal service classes, is sufficient to achieve proportional service without the need to deploy coordinated, complex per-hop scheduling schemes or signaling protocols, which is the conventional approach. The proposed architecture is complementary to any differentiation algorithm used by the routers. Our results show that any network endowed with some internal service classes with respect to packet loss probabilities can be exploited to build a set of external service classes with end-to-end and per-flow guarantees.