Some results on the self-similarity property in communication networks

Due to the strong experimental evidence that packet network traffic is self-similar in nature, it is important to study the problems to see whether the superposition of self-similar processes retains the property of self-similarity, and whether the service of a server changes the self-similarity property of the input traffic. In this letter, we first discuss some definitions and superposition properties of self-similar processes. We obtain some good results about the property of merging self-similar data streams. Then we present a model of a single server with infinite buffer and prove that when the queue length has finite second-order moment, the input process, being strong asymptotically second-order self-similar (sas-s), is equivalent to the output process which also bears the sas-s property.