Scaling properties in the stochastic network calculus

Modern networks have become increasingly complex over the past years in terms of control algorithms, applications and service expectations. Since classical theories for the analysis of telephone networks were found inadequate to cope with these complexities, new analytical tools have been conceived as of late. Among these, the stochastic network calculus has given rise to the optimism that it can emerge as an elegant mathematical tool for assessing network performance. This thesis argues that the stochastic network calculus can provide new analytical insight into the scaling properties of network performance metrics. In this sense it is shown that end-to-end delays grow as Θ(H logH) in the number of network nodes H, as opposed to the Θ(H) order of growth predicted by other theories under simplifying assumptions. It is also shown a comparison between delay bounds obtained with the stochastic network calculus and exact results available in some product-form queueing networks. The main technical contribution of this thesis is a construction of a statistical network service curve that expresses the service given to a flow by a network as if the flow traverse