Spatio-temporal available bandwidth estimation with STAB

Abstract

We study the problem of locating in space and over time a network path's tight link, that is the link with the least available bandwidth on the path. Tight link localization benefits network-aware applications, provides insight into the causes of network congestion and ways to circumvent it, and aids network operations. We present STAB, a light-weight probing tool to locate tight links. STAB combines the probing concepts of self-induced congestion, tailgating, and packet chirps in a novel fashion. We demonstrate its capabilities through experiments on the Internet and verify our results using router MRTG data.