Abstract: A method and system are disclosed for constructing a power spectrum based connection admission control table and using such a table in a communications network, such as an ATM network. Power spectrum parameters, such as the power spectrum DC component .gamma., half power bandwidth B.sub.w and average power .PSI..sub.w are transformed to .gamma., an equivalent half power bandwidth B.sub.e and an equivalent average power .PSI..sub.e, where B.sub.e is a predetermined constant. Since B.sub.e is constant, the transformation reduces the memory requirements for constructing a connection admission control table.