Measuring asymmetric link bandwidths in Internet using a multi-packet delay model

Accurate measurement of network bandwidth is crucial for many flexible Internet applications and protocols. Based on a new multi-packet delay model, this paper presents a new algorithm called ALBP (asymmetric link bandwidth probing) to measure each hop´s link bandwidth in both directions in an IP network, and uses the kernel density estimator to produce a final estimate. Compared with previous techniques, ALBP can eliminate (at least partially) the errors introduced by ICMP replies through the use of interarrival time of two probing packets, and avoid the problem of error accumulation. Simulation results show that ALBP is usually more accurate than both one-packet and packet tailgating techniques, and the bandwidth consumption of ALBP is close to that of packet tailgating.