Network calculus is a theory dealing with queuing systems found in
computer networks. Its focus is on performance guarantees. Central to
the theory is the use of alternate algebras such as the min-plus algebra
to transform complex network systems into analytically tractable
systems. To simplify the ana- sis, another idea is to characterize tra?c
and service processes using various bounds. Since its introduction in
the early 1990s, network calculus has dev- oped along two
tracks--deterministic and stochastic. This book is devoted to
summarizing results for stochastic network calculus that can be employed
in the design of computer networks to provide stochastic service
guarantees. Overview and Goal Like conventional queuing theory,
stochastic network calculus is based on properly de?ned tra?c models and
service models. However, while in c- ventional queuing theory an arrival
process is typically characterized by the inter-arrival times of
customers and a service process by the service times of customers, the
arrival process and the service process are modeled in n- work calculus
respectively by some arrival curve that (maybe probabilis- cally)
upper-bounds the cumulative arrival and by some service curve that
(maybe probabilistically) lower-bounds the cumulative service. The idea
of usingboundstocharacterizetra?candservicewasinitiallyintroducedfor-
terministic network calculus. It has also been extended to stochastic
network calculus by exploiting the stochastic nature of arrival and
service processes.
