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Publications in Scientific Journals:

F. Ricciato, F. Vacirca, P. Svoboda:
"Diagnosis of Capacity Bottlenecks via Passive Monitoring in 3G Networks: an Empirical Analysis";
Computer Networks, 51 (2006), 4; 1205 - 1231.



English abstract:
In this work we address the problem of inferring the presence of a capacity bottleneck
from passive measurements in a 3G network. The study is based on one
month of packet traces collected in the UMTS core network of mobilkom austria
AG & Co KG, the leading mobile telecommunications provider in Austria, EU.
During the measurement period a bottleneck link in the UMTS core network was
revealed and removed, therefore the traces enable the accurate analysis and comparison
of the traffic behavior in the two network conditions: with and without a
capacity bottleneck.
Two approaches to bottleneck detection are investigated. The first one is based on
the signal analysis of the marginal rate distribution of the traffic aggregate along
one day cycle. Since TCP-controlled traffic dominates the overall traffic mix, the
presence of a bottleneck strains the aggregate rate distribution and compresses it
against the capacity limit during the peak hour. The second approach is based on
the analysis of several TCP performance parameters, e.g. estimated frequency of
retransmissions. Such statistics are unstable due to the presence of few top users,
but this effect can be counteracted with simple filtering methods. Both approaches
are validated via simulations.
Our results show that both approaches can be used to provide early warning about
future occurrences of capacity bottlenecks, and can complement other existing
monitoring tools in the operation of a production network.

German abstract:
In this work we address the problem of inferring the presence of a capacity bottleneck
from passive measurements in a 3G network. The study is based on one
month of packet traces collected in the UMTS core network of mobilkom austria
AG & Co KG, the leading mobile telecommunications provider in Austria, EU.
During the measurement period a bottleneck link in the UMTS core network was
revealed and removed, therefore the traces enable the accurate analysis and comparison
of the traffic behavior in the two network conditions: with and without a
capacity bottleneck.
Two approaches to bottleneck detection are investigated. The first one is based on
the signal analysis of the marginal rate distribution of the traffic aggregate along
one day cycle. Since TCP-controlled traffic dominates the overall traffic mix, the
presence of a bottleneck strains the aggregate rate distribution and compresses it
against the capacity limit during the peak hour. The second approach is based on
the analysis of several TCP performance parameters, e.g. estimated frequency of
retransmissions. Such statistics are unstable due to the presence of few top users,
but this effect can be counteracted with simple filtering methods. Both approaches
are validated via simulations.
Our results show that both approaches can be used to provide early warning about
future occurrences of capacity bottlenecks, and can complement other existing
monitoring tools in the operation of a production network.

Keywords:
UMTS, Bottleneck, Passive Monitoring


Electronic version of the publication:
http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/PubDat_192881.pdf


Created from the Publication Database of the Vienna University of Technology.