Inferring link loss using striped unicast probes Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • In this paper we explore the use of end-to-end unicast traffic as measurement probes to infer link-level loss rates. We leverage off of earlier work that produced efficient estimates for link-level loss rates based on end-to-end multicast traffic measurements. We design experiments based on the notion of transmitting stripes of packets (with no delay between transmission of successive packets within a stripe) to two or more receivers. The purpose of these stripes is to ensure that the correlation in receiver observations matches as closely as possible what would have been observed if the stripe had been replaced by a notional multicast probe that followed the same paths to the receivers. Measurements provide good evidence that a packet pair to distinct receivers introduces considerable correlation which can be further increased by simply considering longer stripes. We then use simulation to explore how well these stripes translate into accurate link-level loss estimates. We observe good accuracy with packet pairs, with a typical error of about 1%, which significantly decreases as stripe length is increased to 4 packets.

name of conference

  • Proceedings IEEE INFOCOM 2001. Conference on Computer Communications. Twentieth Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Society (Cat. No.01CH37213)

published proceedings

  • IEEE INFOCOM 2001: THE CONFERENCE ON COMPUTER COMMUNICATIONS, VOLS 1-3, PROCEEDINGS

author list (cited authors)

  • Duffield, N. G., Presti, F. L., Paxson, V., & Towsley, D.

citation count

  • 108

complete list of authors

  • Duffield, NG||Presti, FL||Paxson, V||Towsley, D

publication date

  • January 2001