Comparative measurement of QoS on the trans-Pacific Internet
Ian D. Graham, Stephen F. Donnelly · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1998
n this paper we describe a technique for measuring one-way packet delay and loss on the international Internet, and describe the use of this technique to characterize the QoS behavior of Internet connections, including packet loss, delay, and delay variation. The delay measurement technique depends on the use of Global Positioning System time receivers to provide an accurate absolute time reference at network measurement pints. Packets in the network are characterized by a signature derived from the packet header and payload, and so can be recognized at the measurement points. Thus packet loss can be detected, and the item taken for a packet to move from one measurement point to another can be measured with an accuracy of better than 10 microseconds. Measurements have been made on the Intent between New Zealand and the US, the UK, and Singapore, and have revealed a number of interesting phenomena on differing time-scales.