I hope I am posting to the correct forum.
I am wondering is it possible for the DOCSIS CMTS layer to process multiple packets simultaneously?
The reason I am asking is as follows:
I am using the OPNET simulation packet to computer simulate the DOCSIS network. In this simulation I am trying to determine the inter arrival time of packets and there appears to be a problem.
In the simulation I am running the client (DOCSIS CM) requests an ftp transaction from the server (DOCSIS CMTS). At the server side I want to compute the interarrival time of packets i.e. the time between the arrival of packets from its higher layers.
When a packet arrives at the server (DOCSIS CMTS) I note the time before sending the packet to its destination address (i.e. the client). I then set this time to a variable called previous_time.
On arrival of the next packet at the server for the same client I again note the time. However, what I notice is that on some occasions this time is the same as previous_time. I.e. the packets appear to be arriving at the server (The DOCSIS CMTS layer) at the exact same time!
I do not think this is possible - i.e. that multiple packets can arrive at the server at the exact same time? It is not the case that the difference is a very small number (e.g. ^-9) as if I subtract the two values and divide by the difference the result is infinity.
Can someone please indicate whether this is possible?