METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MODELING AGGREGATE MULTIMEDIA TRAFFIC WITHIN A SHARED TRANSMISSION MEDIUM

The method and system of the present invention can be utilized to model aggregate multimedia traffic within a shared transmission medium, such as an ATM network, so that customer expectations can be met and the network can be constructed and utilized efficiently. A total number of different traffic services, as well as a maximum number of sources of each service are specified by a network operator. Next, a quality of service characterization for each service is determined, based upon available standards. Average sojourn time for each service is determined by modeling each Constant Bit Rate (CBR) service as a Renewal Process, each Variable Bit Rate (VBR) real-time service as a multistate Modulated Discrete Process and each Variable Bit Rate (VBR) non-real-time service as an On-Off Process. Sojourn mean times can thereafter be obtained from measurements or published standards. Average usage rates are then determined from the average sojourn time and that average sojourn time is then calculated for each system state. The steady state probability that a particular number of calls are in progress for each service type can then be statistically calculated utilizing the foregoing parameters. By utilizing the determined sojourn times, average usage rates and steady state probability that a particular number of calls are in progress for each service type and accurate multimedia traffic model can be provided for network design.