Congestion management of IP traffic using adaptive exponential RED

Abstract

In an IP network, if the source rates are increased beyond the service rates of the routers, then queues of packets waiting to be routed at the buffers, build up and exceed the buffering capacity of these routers leading to packets getting dropped. This results in low throughput and congestion collapse. In such networks, an AQM mechanism manages queue lengths in buffers and enables the end-systems to react to such losses by reducing their packet rate, avoiding severe congestion. Random Early Detection (RED) is one of the first AQM mechanisms to be used to avoid congestion in this manner. In this paper, the existing Normal and Gentle RED algorithms of Floyd as well as the justification for the proposed modified exponential RED algorithm have been discussed along with the results obtained on the functioning of the algorithms. Functioning of the algorithm proposed has also been tested using ns2 Simulator.