Buffer overflow asymptotics for a buffer handling many traffic sources

As a model for an ATM switch we consider the overflow frequency of a queue that is served at a constant rate and in which the arrival process is the superposition of N traffic streams. We consider an asymptotic as N → ∞ in which the service rate Nc and buffer size Nb also increase linearly in N. In this regime, the frequency of buffer overflow is approximately exp(– NI ( c, b )) , where I ( c, b ) is given by the solution to an optimization problem posed in terms of time-dependent logarithmic moment generating functions. Experimental results for Gaussian and Markov modulated fluid source models show that this asymptotic provides a better estimate of the frequency of buffer overflow than ones based on large buffer asymptotics.