Adaptive frequency control of packet processing engines in telecommunication networks

The letter addresses the problem of energy saving in packet processing engines of network devices. The case of a single traffic queue is considered. The aim is to guarantee a delay constraint while adjusting the power consumption and the queue service rate. A feedback control is used, which is adaptive to the statistical behavior of traffic sources. The feedback is exploited by a heuristics and an optimal control technique. The latter approach, in particular, is capable to drive indications about which system conditions (statistical parameters, buffer size) are potentially more sensitive to energy saving.