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Process control solutions for congestion control in computer networks

Álvarez Álvarez, María Teresa,Sandoval, Jorge

Abstract

The use of Process Control ideas for the solution of congestion control problems is discussed here. Congestion appears in modern data networks when routers receive more data than they can process. If this congestion is not properly treated congestive collapse occurs, with the router providing very low throughput, as packages have to be resent multiple times. This problem is not dissimilar to some fluid control problems in Process Control, where flows have to be controlled to avoid overflows. Thus, it can be modelled using fluid models, so it is discussed in this paper how standard process control ideas can be adapted to deal with these congestion control problems. A case study involving a set of AQM-based routers under TCP protocol is carried out, using a non-interacting PID controller previously proposed for Process Control. Equivalent fluid models are provided and its control carried out. The results show how process control ideas make possible to avoid congestion when the controller is adequately tuned, despite inherent variations.

Full text

The 7 h In e na ional Symposium on Design, Ope a ion and Con ol o Chemical P ocesses (PSE ASIA 2016) PROCESS CONTROL SOLUTIONS FOR CONGESTION CONTROL IN COMPUTER NETWORKS Te esa ALVAREZ*, and Jo ge SANDOVAL Depa men o Au oma ic Con ol, Uni e si y o Valladolid, 47002 Valladolid, Spain Co esponding Au ho ’s E-mail: [email p o ec ed] ABSTRACT: The use o P ocess Con ol ideas o he solu ion o conges ion con ol p oblems is discussed he e. Conges ion appea s in mode n da a ne wo ks when ou e s ecei e mo e da a han hey can p ocess. I his conges ion is no p ope ly ea ed conges i e collapse occu s, wi h he ou e p o iding e y low h oughpu , as packages ha e o be esen mul iple imes. This p oblem is no dissimila o some luid con ol p oblems in P ocess Con ol, whe e lows ha e o be con olled o a oid o e lows. Thus, i can be modelled using luid models, so i is discussed in his pape how s anda d p ocess con ol ideas can be adap ed o deal wi h hese conges ion con ol p oblems. A case s udy in ol ing a se o AQM-based ou e s unde TCP p o ocol is ca ied ou , using a non-in e ac ing PID con olle p e iously p oposed o P ocess Con ol. Equi alen luid models a e p o ided and i s con ol ca ied ou . The esul s show how p ocess con ol ideas make possible o a oid conges ion when he con olle is adequa ely uned, despi e inhe en a ia ions. Keywo ds: Fluid Models, P ocess Con ol, PIDs, Conges ion Con ol. 1 In oduc ion Rou e s a e main componen s o mode n da a ne wo ks: hey a e esponsible o mo ing da a be ween di e en ne wo ks, being esponsible o ensu ing ha da a ge s whe e i needs o go. As hey connec di e en ne wo ks, hey a e equen ly a ec ed by conges ion, when hey ecei e mo e da a han hei a ailable capaci y, so some da a a e disca ded (see, o example, Azuma e al., 2006). This is a pa allel p oblem o o e lows in P ocess Con ol, agg a a ed by he ac ha da a no ecei ed a he ecep o is esen by he emi e : I his conges ion is no p ope ly ea ed so called conges i e collapse would appea (Jacobson, 1988), which is a pa allel p oblem o Wind-up in P ocess Con ol. I is discussed in his pape how s anda d p ocess con ol ideas (such as hose condensed in As öm and Hägglund, 2006; and O’Dwye , 2009) can be adap ed o co ec his p oblem by ca e ully egula ing he da a ha is disca ded. This pa allelism is based on he ac ha da a ne wo ks can be app oxima ed by dynamic luid models. As explained in Do Young (2005) luid modelling cap u es he a e age a e o how each low e ol es and i is use ul o know con e gence condi ions, ne e heless as ne wo ks ha e an inhe en andomness some imes a s ochas ic model can be usu ul. Bu as s a ing poin luid modelling is a well-es ablished and obus app oach o unde s anding ne wo ks and uning con olle s. The possibili y o using algo i hms de i ed om p ocess con ol sys ems has al eady being sugges ed (see, o example, Hollo e al., 2002; Bolaj a e al., 2010; Al a ez and Ma ínez, 2013 and e e ences he ein). This will be illus a ed o a speci ic case s udy in ol ing a se o AQM-based ou e s (p esen ed in Figu e 2). Mo e p ecisely, unde a s anda d TCP p o ocol i is shown ha a PID-like con olle ( he so-called non-in e ac ing con olle ype 5 p oposed o p ocess con ol p oblems by Hansen (1995), and u he s udied by O’Dwye , 2009, pp. 370), is an adequa e solu ion o his p oblem; a con olle is hen uned and es ed based on his s uc u e. To de elop he con olle , i s equi alen luid models a e discussed ( ollowing Bolaj a e al., 2010) and i s con ol ca ied ou using he selec ed PID-like con olle . In summa y, his shows how p ocess con ol ideas make possible o a oid conges ion when he con olle is adequa ely uned, despi e inhe en a ia ions in ne wo k pa ame e s (Figu e 3). 2 Fluid Models in Conges ion Con ol Many di e en models ha e been p oposed in he li e a u e o conges ion con ol p oblems (see, o example, Ve es and Boda, 2000, he book by S ikan , 2012 and e e ences he in). This pape solely concen a es on luid models, ha ha e he ad an age o p o iding a se o nonlinea di e en ial equa ions ha ep esen ai h ully he main dynamics o hese p ocess. F om hese nonlinea di e en ial equa ions i is hen possible o ca y ou analysis o he p oblem (see, o example, he s abili y analysis by Mazenc and Niculescu, 2003), and o ob ain app oxima e linea models in ans e unc ion o m, ha can be di ec ly use o design and une con olle s using P ocess Con ol ideas (see, o example, Hollo e al., 2002 o Bolaj a e al., 2010). July 24-27, 2016, Tokyo, Japan  2  Figu e 1: Dumbbell opology 2.1 TCP/IP NewReno dynamic model Now, he TCP/IP NewReno ne wo k dynamics is p esen ed. The dynamics o an AQM ou e a e complex due o he numbe o a iables ha come in o play: packe sou ces, p o ocols, e c. Ne e heless, i is possible o ob ain a nonlinea model ha ep esen s he dynamics o he sys em (See Hollo e al., 2002) conside ing ha he p o ocol used is TCP. The model ela es o he a e age alue o he ne wo k a iables and is desc ibed by he ollowing coupled, nonlinea di e en ial equa ions: 1 ()((())) () ( ()) () 2 ( ()) () (), 0 () () () max 0, ( ) , 0 () TCP TCP W W R R W p R R R R N CW q R q N CW q R               & & , (1) whe e W: a e age TCP window size (packe s), q  : a e age queue leng h (packe s), R: ound- ip ime = q/C+Tp (secs), C: link capaci y (packe s/sec), Tp: p opaga ion delay (secs), NTCP: load ac o (numbe o TCP sessions) and p: p obabili y o packe ma k. As explained by Hollo e al. (2002), he i s di e en ial equa ion in (1) desc ibes he TCP window con ol dynamic, and he second equa ion models he bo leneck queue leng h, as an accumula ed di e ence be ween he packe a i al a e and he link capaci y. The queue leng h and window size a e posi i e, bounded quan i ies, i.e.,  qq ,0 and  WW ,0 , whe e and W deno e bu e capaci y and maximum window size, espec i ely. In his o mula ion, he conges ion window size W( ) is inc eased by one e e y ound- ip ime i no conges ion is de ec ed, and is hal ed when conges ion is de ec ed. 2.2 Linea ized model Al hough an AQM ou e is a non-linea sys em, in o de o analyse ce ain ypes o p ope ies and design con olle s, a linea ized model is used. To linea ize (1), i is assumed ha he numbe o ac i e TCP sessions and he link capaci y a e cons an , i.e., NTCP( )= N and C( )=C. Figu e 2: Block diag am o AQM as a eedback con ol sys em q The 7 h In e na ional Symposium on Design, Ope a ion and Con ol o Chemical P ocesses (PSE ASIA 2016) To simpli y he de elopmen o a model adequa e o con olle design, he dependence o he ime delay a gumen −R on queue leng h q is igno ed, so i is assumed o be −R0. This app oxima ion is accep able when he ound- ip ime is domina ed by he p opaga ion delay (see Chen e al., 2006), which occu s when he capaci y C is la ge. R0 should be chosen such ha he abo e hypo hesis can be ensu ed, so a alue ha wo ks in he wo s case scena io should be ad isable. When he model is linea ized, he same supposi ion is made. I canno be denied ha calcula ions a e signi ican ly simpli ied, bu u he esea ch in he ma e would be ad isable. Local linea iza ion o (1) a ound he ope a ing poin esul s in he ollowing di e en ial equa ions:                      )( 1 )()( 2 1 00 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 q R W R N q R p N CR R q q CR R W W CR N W   , (2) whe e 0 )( WW W  , 0 qqq  and 0 ppp  , ep esen he pe u bed a iables. The ope a ing poin o a desi ed equilib ium queue leng h q 0 is gi en by: p T C q R 0 0, 0 0 TCP RC WN  and 2 0 0 2 W p . (3) The linea ized model (2) can be ew i en by sepa a ing he low equency (‘nominal’) beha iou P(s) o he window dynamic om he high equency beha iou ∆(s) which is conside ed as pa asi ic.   2 2 00 (2 ) () , (2 ) ( ) 1 TCP TCP CN Ps s NRCsR   0 2 3 0 2 () 1 Rs TCP N se RC    (4) Taking (4) as a s a ing poin , Hollo e al. (2002) gi e a eedback con ol desc ip ion o AQM (Fig. 1). The ac ion implemen ed by an AQM con ol law is o ma k packe s wi h a disca d p obabili y p( ), as a unc ion o he measu ed queue leng h q( ). The la ge he queue, he g ea e he disca d p obabili y becomes. 3 Con olle Design o he Case S udy I can be seen om (4) ha he linea ized model co esponds o a sys em wi h a delay and wo eal poles: (5) whe e he pa ame e s a e gi en by: ߬ ௠ ൌܴ ଴ ܶ ௠ଵ ൌ ோ బ మ ஼ ଶே ೅಴ು ܶ ௠ଶ ൌ ଵ ோ బ I has been p oposed by O’Dwye (2009) ha o he class o sys ems desc ibed by (5) he mos adequa e PID-like con olle is he one p esen ed in Figu e 3, which co esponds o he ollowing s uc u e: (6) Some uning ules a e sugges ed in O’Dwye (2009) o his con olle based only on he alue o he delay and ime cons an . As he models in (1) and (4) co espond o app oxima ions o he dynamics o he sys em, a ull es was ca ied ou using he simula ion ool ns2 (see Issa iyakul, and Hossain 2011 o a gene al desc ip ion o his ool). ns2 p o ides disc e e-e en da a ne wo k simula o s, which a e ex ensi ely used in da a ne wo k esea ch. Nex sec ion desc ibes in de ail hese es s. July 24-27, 2016, Tokyo, Japan  4   Figu e 3: Non-in e ac ing PID-like con olle 5 [3] 4 Simula ion esul s This sec ion desc ibes a se o expe imen s ha ha e been ca ied ou o show he p oposed app oach. Fi s , a non-in e ac ing PID-like con olle ha ollows he s uc u e p esen ed in Figu e 5 was uned using he linea model in (4). The PID con olle was uned o he nominal case ha co esponds o N TCP =325 links, delay R 0 =100ms; he link be ween he sou ces and Rou e 1 has a capaci y o C=20 Mb/s. The con olle uned o he nominal case had he ollowing nominal pa ame e s (in adequa e uni s): b=0.143, c=-0.00078, K c =-0.0015, T i =0.9889, T d =-0.00018. Once uned, i was implemen ed using Simulink ollowing he diag am block shown in Figu e 3 . Then he co esponding disc e e con olle was ob ained and compa ed o he con inuous PID. These simula ions ga e some insigh in he sys em pe o mance and con i med he adequacy o he con olle s ( esul s a e no p esen ed he e due o lack o space). Then, he non-linea simula ion ool ns2 was in oduced o simula e mo e ealis ic scena ios, based on he opology p esen ed in Figu e 4. Fo his de ailed simula ions s anda d blocks om ns2 lib a ies we e used, ha a e known o ai h ully ep oduce eal da a ne wo ks. The PID p oposed in Figu e 3 was no a ailable in hose lib a ies, so i was coded. This makes possible o es he designed con olle in se e al scena ios wi h di e en a ic pa ame e s, changing numbe o sou ces and di e en delays, using exponen ial dis ibu ions o he gene a ion o da a by he sou ces. Some esul s a e p esen ed in Figu es 5-8 and a e now discussed in de ail. Figu e 4: Dumbbell opology and ne wo k pa ame e s Figu e 5 and Figu e 6 show he queue and p obabili y e olu ion. Ou con ol a iable is he p obabili y o disca ding a packe and he con olled a iable he queue size in packe s. I is shown in he same plo he simula ion esul s o N=175, 325 and 500 sou ces when he e e ence is cons an and equal o 200 packe s. E en when he ne wo k condi ions a e di e en , he esul s a e adequa e wi h he designed con olle . Table 1 gi es a summa y o each o he h ee scena ios in e ms o mean, s anda d de ia ion and wo me ics widely used in communica ions. The QACD (Quad a ic A e age o Con ol De ia ion) is a me ic o measu e how well is he con olle wo king. I gi es a measu e o how much he eal alue is de ia ed om he desi ed alue. The lowe he alue he be e he esul . The 7 h In e na ional Symposium on Design, Ope a ion and Con ol o Chemical P ocesses (PSE ASIA 2016) Figu e 5: E olu ion o he queue leng h wi h di e en numbe o sou ces Figu e 6: E olu ion o he ma king p obabili y wi h di e en numbe o sou ces Numbe o Sou ces N Queue: Mean leng h Queue: S anda d de ia ion QACD: mean QACD: s anda d de ia ion 175 201.1 26.1 92.2 82.2 325 199.3 29.8 70.0 57.0 500 199.5 31.3 80.9 67.5 Table 1: Summa y o Resul s o di e en numbe o sou ces wi h he p oposed con olle The con olle gi es pe ec esul s o he nominal case (N=325), and adequa e esul s o he o he wo scena ios. I should be no ed ha om he obse a ion o Figu e 6 we can conclude ha he lowe ma king p obabili y belongs o he case when he e a e 175 sou ces. Figu e 7: E olu ion o he queue leng h when he e e ence changes Ano he se o expe imen s consis ed in changing he e e ence a a ious ime poin s. Some esul s a e p esen ed in Figu e 7 and Figu e 8: good pe o mance was ob ained in he h ee di e en si ua ions s udied. Figu e 7 shows he queue e olu ion and Figu e 8 depic s he p obabili y o ma king packe s. I can be seen ha he con olle is well uned as he e e ence is co ec ly acked.  July 24-27, 2016, Tokyo, Japan  6   Figu e 8: E olu ion o he ma king p obabili y when he e e ence changes 5 Conclusions I has being shown in his pape how p ocess con ol ideas can be adop ed o he conges ion con ol p oblem in compu e ne wo ks, by de eloping PID-like con olle s de eloped om equi alen dynamic luid models. This has being illus a ed o a speci ic case s udy, based on he non-in e ac ing con olle ype 5 used o p ocess con ol. When his PID-like con olle is adequa ely uned, i makes possible o obus ly a oid conges ion, as shown by de ailed simula ions in expec ed ope a ing condi ions. Acknowledgemen s Funded by MiCInn DPI2014-54530-R and FEDER unds. Re e ences As öm K.J. and T. 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