Tópicos en la Regulación de Internet: congestión de tráfico y neutralidad de red

Una práctica de transmisión de datos en internet que se desvíe del precepto general conocido como “mejor esfuerzo” es calificada como una violación al principio de neutralidad de red. Presentamos un modelo no neutral de contrato entre proveedores de acceso a internet (ISP) y proveedores de contenido (CAP) en base al concepto de tráfico priorizado. Evaluamos sus beneficios comparándolo con una situación neutral y hallamos que en la modalidad no neutral se reduce el cargo. La modelización de la congestión de red en conjunto con la determinación de los beneficios de ISP y CAP y la consideración de una forma específica de trafico administrado genera resultados que difieren de los argumentos regulatorios simples donde siempre es beneficioso para los ISP apartarse del régimen de neutralidad de red y extraer parte de los recursos de los proveedores de contenido (CAP) a pesar que aun en éste caso el excedente total del mercado puede aumentar.

Digital Bifurcation Analysis of Internet Congestion Control Protocols

Digital bifurcation analysis is a new algorithmic method for exploring how the behavior of a parameter-dependent discrete system varies with a change in its parameters and, in particular, for the identification of bifurcation points where such variation becomes dramatic. We have developed the method in an analogy with the traditional bifurcation theory and have successfully applied it to models taken from systems biology. In this paper, we report on the application of the digital bifurcation analysis for analyzing the stability of internet congestion control protocols by inspecting their attractor bifurcations. In contrast to the analytical methods, our approach allows fully automated analysis. We compared the robustness of the basic Random Early Drop (RED) approach with four substantially different extensions, namely gentle, adaptive, gradient descent, and integral feedback RED. The basic RED protocol is well known to exhibit unstable behavior when parameters are varied. In the case of adaptive and gradient descent RED protocol, the analysis showed significant improvements in stability, whereas in the results for gentle and integral feedback RED protocols the improvement was negligible. We performed a series of model simulations, the results of which were in accordance with our bifurcation analysis. Based on our results, we can recommend both adaptive and gradient descent RED to improve the robustness of the RED protocol.