Scheduling, bandwidth allocation and performance evaluation of DOCSIS protocol for cable networks

The Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) of the Multimedia Cable Network System (MCNS) organization intends to support IP traffics over HFC (hybrid fiber/coax) networks with significantly higher data rates than analog modems and Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) links. The availability of high speed-access enables the delivery of high quality audio, video and interactive services. To support quality-of-service (QoS) for such applications, it is important for HFC networks to provide effective medium access and traffic scheduling mechanisms. In this work, a novel scheduling mechanism and a new bandwidth allocation scheme are proposed to support multimedia traffic over DOCSIS (Data Over Cable System Interface Specification)-compliant cable networks. The primary goal of our research is to improve the transmission of real-time variable bit rate (VBR) traffic in terms of throughput and delay under DOCSIS. To support integrated services, we also consider the transmission of constant bit rate (CBR) traffic and non-real-time traffic in the simulation. To demonstrate the performance, we compare the result of the proposed scheme with that of a simple multiple priority scheme. It is shown via simulation that the proposed method provides a significant amount of improvement over existing QoS scheduling services in DOCSIS. Finally, a discrete-time Markov model is used to analyze the performance of the voice traffic over DOCSIS-supported cable networks.