Bandwidth Shaper Toggling for Network Power Budget Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for controlling power consumption in network devices often result in unnecessary degradation of network performance by limiting data rates to meet power budgets, leading to overheating and potential system failure, while aggressive power management can cause system downtime.
Innovation Solution
Implementing bandwidth shapers that toggle between enabled and disabled states to adjust the data rate dynamically, ensuring average power consumption remains below a specified budget while maximizing overall data throughput.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If bandwidth shapers are constantly enabled to control power consumption, then power consumption is reduced, but network performance degrades due to limited data rates
Solution Approach 1:
The bandwidth shaper is toggled periodically between enabled and disabled states based on detected power consumption levels. When power consumption exceeds a threshold, the shaper is enabled to reduce data rate and lower power usage. When power consumption is below the threshold, the shaper is disabled to restore full data rate and improve network performance. This periodic toggling resolves the contradiction by dynamically adapting to power conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the bandwidth shaper state (enabled/disabled) based on real-time power consumption detection. The processing logic monitors power consumption and toggles the shaper accordingly, making the system adaptive rather than static. This dynamic approach allows the system to optimize between power consumption and network performance based on current conditions.
2Productivity
If bandwidth shapers are disabled to maintain full data rate, then network performance is improved, but power consumption exceeds the power budget
Solution Approach 1:
The processing logic continuously detects power consumption levels and uses this feedback to control the bandwidth shaper state. When power consumption exceeds the power budget, the system enables the shaper to reduce data rate and lower power usage. When power consumption is within the budget, the shaper is disabled to maintain full data rate. This feedback loop resolves the contradiction by continuously adapting to power conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameter of the bandwidth shaper (enabled/disabled state) based on power consumption conditions. By toggling the shaper parameter, the system can switch between low-power mode (shaper enabled, reduced data rate) and high-performance mode (shaper disabled, full data rate), thus resolving the contradiction between data rate and power consumption.
3Use of energy by moving object
If aggressive power management is applied to meet power budget, then power consumption is controlled, but system reliability decreases due to potential system downtime
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of constantly enabling the bandwidth shaper (aggressive power management), the system uses periodic toggling based on detected power consumption levels. The shaper is only enabled when power consumption exceeds the threshold, and disabled when it is below the threshold. This periodic approach maintains system reliability by avoiding continuous performance degradation while still controlling power consumption within the budget.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from power consumption detection to control the bandwidth shaper, enabling it only when necessary to meet the power budget. This feedback-based approach avoids aggressive power management that would constantly limit performance, thereby maintaining system reliability and availability while still achieving power consumption control.
Data Source
AI summary
A device includes one or more ports, one or more bandwidth shapers, and processing logic. The one or more ports are to connect to a communication network. A given bandwidth shaper is to: (i) when disabled, output traffic at an available full data rate, and (ii) when enabled, output the traffic at a specified shaper data rate lower than the available full data rate. The processing logic is to receive or generate notifications, which are indicative of average power that is consumed by the network device while outputting traffic through the one or more bandwidth shapers via the one or more ports, and based on at least some of the notifications, toggle at least one of the one or more bandwidth shapers between being enabled and disabled, to retain the average power consumed below a specified power budget.