Sub-additive service curves in the Network Calculus analysis
For researchers in network calculus, this paper corrects a flawed approach and reaffirms the sufficiency of standard assumptions, though the contribution is incremental.
The paper refutes claims that negative-valued functions are necessary for Network Calculus analysis of feedback control systems, showing that conventional non-negative sub-additive functions suffice. It identifies unsoundness and stability issues in prior work and provides corrected analyses where possible.
Network Calculus is a theoretical model that aims at providing upper bounds of worst-case performance (such as delay or buffer occupancy). This is a mathematical framework that handles both network modeling and network analysis. As such it has requirements regarding the space of functions needed for a safe analysis. Namely, the functions need to be non-negative, as they model a quantity of data. This results in some pitfall for the analysis, where hypothesis matter. A recent paper by Hamscher et al. states that allowing functions with negative values can also lead to a valid analysis, in cases that would be untractable with the non-negative assumption results, especially when feedback control is present in the system. In this paper, we show that, on the contrary, a more conventional analysis is possible in all the mentioned cases. The key is a detailed analysis of sub-additive functions. Second, we show that the analysis of complex feedback control systems, presented by Hamscher et al. in a second paper that uses functions with negative values, is unsound and has stability issues. We give a corrected analysis, when possible, with conventional hypotheses.