Pathpair: A fast available bandwidth estimation tool with the asymptotic one way delay comparison model

Abstract

Significant research has been dedicated to active probing methods used to estimate the end-to-end available bandwidth (avail-bw) of a network path. The measurement speed of an avail-bw estimation tool is vital to real-time network services such as transport control protocol (TCP) slow start, path selection for P2P applications and video streaming services and so on. In addition, a fast avail-bw estimation tool sends less probing traffic to a measured network. Pathload, a one way delay (OWD) based tool, has been widely regarded as one of the most accurate tools, but its estimation speed is often 10 or more seconds per measurement. A fast OWD-based avail-bw estimation scheme has been explored. This scheme is based on the proposed asymptotic OWD comparison model, and an estimation tool called Pathpair has been developed. Validated in a real Internet environment, experimental results show that with Pathpair the measurement speed has been significantly improved (1-3s per measurement), while preserving accuracy compared with other major tools like Pathload and Spruce. © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2009.