Roadmap

Performance metrics

bandwidth
latency
bandwidth delay product
throughput

Bandwidth
Bandwidth: Number of bits that can
be transmitted over a certain tiem
-- typically per unit time.
Some people also refer it to the
spectrum -- example 10 Ghz.
This typically translates to a
maximum data rate.

Transmission Time
A function of bandwidth
If bandwidth is B, transmission
time is 1/B.
If bandwidth is 10 Mbps, the
transmission time is 1/(10 x 106) =
1 s.

Propagation Delay
Once a bit is put on a link, the time it
takes to go across the link.
Depends on the speed with which the
electromagnetic signal (light) travels in
the medium -- 2 x 108 m/s in fiber.
Propagation delay = distance/speed of
signal.

Queuing Delay
At each intermediate node or router, a
packet is queued.
Thus, it has to wait prior to
transmission.
How long does it have to wait ?
Dependent on the load on the network -how many packets are traversing that
router ?

Latency
How long does a packet take to go
from one host to another.
Also called Delay.
Latency = Propagation Delay +
Queueing Delay +
Transmission Delay

Round Trip Time

Packet is sent from sender to receiver.
Receiver sends ACK (assume immediately)
to sender.
Total time delay incurred between the
instance the packet is set to the time the
ACK is received.
Note if forward delay = backward delay,
RTT = 2 * Latency (typically assumed -although not always accurate).

Bandwidth Delay Product

Delay

Bandwidth

Think of this as a pipe.

How much does the pipe
hold in bits ?
In essence, if I send a
stream of bits, the first
bit traverses the bit in
Delay seconds.
In the meantime, how
many more bits can I
send ?

Example
For a transcontinental channel -- latency
= 50 milliseconds.
Bandwidth = 45 Mbps.
Bandwidth delay product =
50 x 10-3 x 45 x 106
= 2.25 Mbits
We can transmit 2.25 M bits before the
first bit reaches the other end of the
channel !

What if ACK is expected ?

Note if ACK is expected, how many
bits can the user transmit before
he expects to have an ACK ?
RTT X Bandwidth
For symmetric channels 2 X Delay
X Bandwidth.

Throughput
Defines how efficiently channel is
being used.
Throughput = Transfer size/
Transfer time.
What is the transfer time ?
RTT + (Transfer size/Bandwidth)
(ignoring queuing delays).

Example
1 MB file over a 1 Gbps network
with RTT 100 milliseconds.
Transfer time = 100 ms + (1
MB/1Gbps) = 100 ms + 8 ms = 108
ms.
Effective throughput = 1 MB/108
ms = 74.1 Mbps.

Impact of data size

If data size increases,
(Transfer size/Bandwidth) increases.
Could become much larger than RTT.
In that case, Throughput ~ (Transfer
size /(Transfer size/Bandwidth) ~
Bandwidth!
Bottomline : Throughput increases with
data transfer size.