Network traffic simulation

About: Network traffic simulation is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4535 publications have been published within this topic receiving 74606 citations.

Analyzing peer-to-peer traffic across large networks

Abstract: The use of peer-to-peer (P2P) applications is growing dramaticaliy, particularly for sharing large video/audio files and software. In this paper, we analyze P2P traffic by measuring flow-level information collected at multiple border routers across a large ISP network, and report our investigation of three popular P2P systems -- FastTrack, Gnutella, and DirectConnect. We characterize the P2P traffic observed at a single ISP and its impact on the underlying network. We observe very skewed distribution in the traffic across the network at different levels of spatial aggregation (IP, prefix, AS). All three P2P systems exhibit significant dynamics at short times scale and particularly at the IP address level Still, the fraction of P2P traffic contributed by each prefix is much more stable than the corresponding distribution of either Web traffic or overall traffic. The high volume and good stability properties of P2P traffic indicates that the P2P workload is a good candidate for being managed via application-specific layer-3 traffic engineering in an ISP's network.

TraCI: an interface for coupling road traffic and network simulators

Abstract: Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs) enable communication among vehicles as well as between vehicles and roadside infrastructures. Currently available software tools for VANET research still lack the ability to asses the usability of vehicular applications. In this article, we present Traffic Control Interface (TraCI) a technique for interlinking road traffic and network simulators. It permits us to control the behavior of vehicles during simulation runtime, and consequently to better understand the influence of VANET applications on traffic patterns.In contrast to the existing approaches, i.e., generating mobility traces that are fed to a network simulator as static input files, the online coupling allows the adaptation of drivers' behavior during simulation runtime. This technique is not limited to a special traffic simulator or to a special network simulator. We introduce a general framework for controlling the mobility which is adaptable towards other research areas.We describe the basic concept, design decisions and the message format of this open-source architecture. Additionally, we provide implementations for non-commercial traffic and network simulators namely SUMO and ns2, respectively. This coupling enables for the first time systematic evaluations of VANET applications in realistic settings.

Traffic models in broadband networks

Abstract: Traffic models are at the heart of any performance evaluation of telecommunications networks An accurate estimation of network performance is critical for the success of broadband networks Such networks need to guarantee an acceptable quality of service (QoS) level to the users Therefore, traffic models need to be accurate and able to capture the statistical characteristics of the actual traffic We survey and examine traffic models that are currently used in the literature Traditional short-range and non-traditional long-range dependent traffic models are presented The number of parameters needed, parameter estimation, analytical tractability, and ability of traffic models to capture marginal distribution and auto-correlation structure of the actual traffic are discussed

Self-similarity and heavy tails: structural modeling of network traffic

Abstract: High-resolution traac measurements from modern communications networks provide unique opportunities for developing and validating mathematical models for aggregate traac. To exploit these opportunities, we emphasize the need for structural models that take into account spe-ciic physical features of the underlying communication network structure. This approach is in sharp contrast to the traditional black box modeling methodology from time series analysis that ignores, in general, speciic physical structures. We demonstrate, in particular, how the proposed structural modeling approach provides a direct link between the observed self-similarity characteristic of measured aggregate network traac, and the strong empirical evidence in favor of heavy-tailed, innnite variance phenomena at the level of individual network connections.

Optimizing traffic lights in a cellular automaton model for city traffic.

Abstract: We study the impact of global traffic light control strategies in a recently proposed cellular automaton model for vehicular traffic in city networks. The model combines basic ideas of the Biham-Middleton-Levine model for city traffic and the Nagel-Schreckenberg model for highway traffic. The city network has a simple square lattice geometry. All streets and intersections are treated equally, i.e., there are no dominant streets. Starting from a simple synchronized strategy, we show that the capacity of the network strongly depends on the cycle times of the traffic lights. Moreover, we point out that the optimal time periods are determined by the geometric characteristics of the network, i.e., the distance between the intersections. In the case of synchronized traffic lights, the derivation of the optimal cycle times in the network can be reduced to a simpler problem, the flow optimization of a single street with one traffic light operating as a bottleneck. In order to obtain an enhanced throughput in the model, improved global strategies are tested, e.g., green wave and random switching strategies, which lead to surprising results.