Nonlinear Traffic Shaper with Dynamic Cost Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
In networks where congestion or flow control information is unavailable or impractical to provide for traffic shaping, it is challenging to adaptively reduce congestion and manage packet transfers effectively.
Innovation Solution
A traffic shaping circuit with programmable features that dynamically adjusts packet-transfer costs and budget limits using a cost table, allowing for self-monitoring and throttling of packet transfers without relying on external congestion feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If congestion or flow control information is provided to transmitters for traffic shaping, then network congestion can be effectively managed, but the cost of detecting and distributing this information becomes too high and the information may become obsolete before utilization
Solution Approach 1:
The traffic shaper autonomously monitors its own transmission rate and adjusts packet-transfer costs based on detected congestion signs, eliminating the need for external congestion information feedback. The system serves itself by internally generating the control signals it needs, thus avoiding the high cost and complexity of external information detection and distribution while maintaining effective congestion management
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements internal feedback by monitoring its own transmission rate and detecting signs of congestion in outgoing traffic. This self-generated feedback loop allows the traffic shaper to adjust cost parameters dynamically based on actual network conditions without requiring external congestion information, resolving the contradiction between effective congestion management and information distribution cost
2Productivity
If packet-transfer cost is increased to reduce traffic rate, then network congestion is reduced, but the budget depletes faster limiting legitimate traffic
Solution Approach 1:
The traffic shaper dynamically adjusts packet-transfer costs based on detected congestion signs rather than using static high costs. When congestion is detected, costs are increased to reduce traffic rate; when congestion subsides, costs are decreased to allow legitimate traffic to flow. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by matching cost levels to actual network conditions, reducing congestion efficiently while preserving budget for legitimate traffic
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the packet-transfer cost parameter dynamically based on network conditions and detected congestion signs. By adjusting this parameter up or down according to actual traffic patterns and congestion indicators, the system achieves effective congestion reduction without permanently depleting the budget, as costs are lowered when congestion eases to allow legitimate traffic recovery
Data Source
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AI summary
A traffic shaping circuit regulates packets transferred by a transmission resource into a network (e.g., a network on a chip) on behalf of a client. The packet transfers are selectively enabled or disabled based on a current budget value. The budget value is modified based on a packet-transfer cost in response to transferring a packet into the network. The rate of packet transfers into the network is monitored. A cost-adjustment signal is generated based on the rate of packet transfers. The packet-transfer cost is modified in response to the cost-adjustment signal for accounting for a subsequent-packet transfer into the network. The cost-adjustment signal may indicate an increase or decrease of the packet-transfer cost and/or a budget limit, both of which are read from a cost table comprising records ordered based on respective packet-transfer cost values. The packet-transfer cost and/or a budget limit are configurable.