Packet Coloring for Intelligent Traffic Management In Wireless Networks

Delivering committed traffic Quality of Service (QoS) per Service Level Agreement (SLA) requires support of critical intelligent traffic management features in LTE eNodeB (and future 5G access nodes), such as Uplink Traffic Shaping and Congestion and Admission Control (CAC). This paper highlights the motivation and merits of uplink traffic shaping in preserving QoS levels per traffic categories over transport links. Techniques for packet coloring, which are used in the fixed networks, are considered herein to mark packet priorities within the wireless access nodes. In particular, the paper introduces an algorithm for intelligent packet coloring, with the goal to protect the critical traffic while maximizing the return of investments made by network operators.