Traffic patterns
Traffic patterns generated by voice, data, image, and video services differ from patterns observed in circuit switched voice networks.
Their simulations require traffic models that differ from traditional Poisson models used for voice traffic.
Interest in self-similar traffic was first stimulated by the measurements of Ethernet traffic at Bellcore in the early 90’s.
The analysis of the collected traffic traces led to the discovery that “traffic looks the same on all time scales” (self-similar or fractal).
This feature has been discovered in other traffic traces: TCP, MPEG video, WWW, and SS7.
An important characteristic of self-similar traffic is its long-range dependence: the existence of correlations over a broad range of time scales.