End-to-end delay analysis for networks with partial assumptions of statistical independence (invited paper

By accounting for statistical properties of arrivals and ser-vice, stochastic formulations of the network calculus yield significantly tighter backlog and delay bounds than those ob-tained in a purely deterministic framework. This paper pro-poses a stochastic network calculus formulation which can account for partial assumptions on statistical independence of arrivals and service across multiple network nodes. Sce-narios where this can be useful are packet tandem networks with cross traffic and independent arrivals, where identical packet sizes create correlations across the nodes. As an ap-plication, the paper investigates the role of partial statistical independence on end-to-end delay bounds in four main sce-narios arising by combining assumptions on the statistical independence of arrivals and packet sizes at different net-work nodes. 1