Balanced HDLC Procedures: A Performance Analysis

Abstract

The prime objective of the present paper is to analyze the performance of HDLC Balanced Class of Procedures, i.e., to quantitatively study the interaction among a multiplicity of parameters which are procedure specific, characterize the properties of the transmission medium, and identify the operational characteristics and requirements. The approach taken is to consider two kinds of operation: a saturated case characterized by maximum throughput as the most suitable measure of performance, and a nonsaturated situation for which waiting and transfer times are the appropriate measures. The analysis is performed by means of both simulation and analytic techniques. Within the simulation model, the information transfer phase of the HDLC procedure was implemented in full detail. The key idea of the analytic approach is to use a so-called virtual transmission time, a quantity comprising both the real constant transmission time of a message and the duration of recovery actions in case of transmission errors. It allows the performance measures to be represented by explicit and easily-computable expressions. The results provide a fundamental insight into how the most relevant parameters interact and determine performance.