Residential Oriented Customer Premises Network Based on ATM Principles

Abstract

An architecture for a Customer Premises Network based on ATM and specially designed for residential applications is described. The support of internal communications as well as of upstream and downstream network traffic is guaranteed by a distributed structure based on a shared medium, which can satisfy the required characteristics of flexibility, reliability, performance and simplicity. The access mechanism used in this solution is based on a More Loaded First Served discipline which suits quite well quick variations on the source traffic patterns, keeping on the other hand the level of simplicity required by the target environment. The resolution of critical situations, in which some terminals may have delay thresholds, is embedded in the global solution through a modification of the basic priority of each terminal. A description of the architecture, its physical configuration, the access mechanism and other relevant aspects of the Customer Premises Network are presented along with an analysis of its performance based on results obtained through simulation.