Inverse problems in bandwidth sharing networks

Numerous probing and tomography techniques have been developed for the Internet. They all either flood the network with probing TCP connections or require to send additional probing packets which delays must be precisely measured. In this paper, we propose a new approach, on the basis of existing TCP connections and reaching therefore a zero probing overhead. The foundation of the proposed technique lies in the theory of inverse problems in bandwidth sharing networks, and the approximation of Internet and TCP behavior by that of a bandwidth sharing network. The field of this kind of inverse problems is explored, and we give a few application to toy networks, either with fixed population or with elastic traffic.