A Novel Router-based Approach for Measuring Packet-based Delay in High Speed IP Networks

In this paper we propose a Packet-based measurement technique called Floating IP Active Measurement (FIPAM) that utilizes routing loop to measure Delay and Throughput in IP networks. Calculating these parameters in multi-provider and complex networks like Internet has became a challenge as most of current active measurement tools relying on ICMP and majority of today’s networks block ICMP traffics to prevent denial of service attacks. FIPAM uses IP protocol itself and allows flexible packet size, packet format and QoS parameters. Furthermore it offers more accuracy as it is not based on the time-stamps calculated in host computers that act as pairs. Here first we discuss advantages, the design and implementation of the technique. Then we define our measurement metric and explain how it can be used to calculate the mentioned parameters. To provide adequate support we have developed a test-bed to compare FIPAM with Ping. Our results show that our technique is a good replacement for Ping. We have also conducted a simulation scenario similar to the test-bed in OpNet Modeler and compared the results with the test-bed’s results. Finally we discuss the future direction of the research.