This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Courcoubetis, C. Articles by Weber, R. Search for Related Content

Measurement-Based Usage Charges in Comminucations Networks

ICS-FORTH and Department of Computer Science, University of Crete, Greece
University of Cambridge, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge CB3 0WB, United Kingdom
University of Cambridge, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge CB3 0WB, United Kingdom
courcou{at}aueb.gr
frank{at}statslab.cam.ac.uk
rrw1{at}cam.ac.uk

We study usage-sensitive charging schemes for broadband communications networks. We argue that a connection's "effective bandwidth" is a good proxy for the quantity of network resource that the connection consumes and can be the basis for a usage charge. The determination of effective bandwidth can be problematic, however, since it involves the moment-generating function of the cell arrival process, which may be difficult to model or measure. This article describes methods of computing usage charges from simple measurements and relating these to bounds on the effective bandwidth. Thus we show that charging for usage on the basis of effective bandwidths can be approximated well by charges based on simple measurements.

Subject classifications: Communications: measurement-based charging.
History: Received October 1997; revision received August 1998; accepted September 1998.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Maglaras and A. Zeevi Pricing and Capacity Sizing for Systems with Shared Resources: Approximate Solutions and Scaling Relations Management Science, August 1, 2003; 49(8): 1018 - 1038. [Abstract] [PDF]

				P. Whittle Applied Probability in Great Britain Operations Research, January 1, 2002; 50(1): 227 - 239. [PDF]