Open experimentation with operational Mobile Broadband (MBB) networks in the wild is currently a fundamental requirement of the research community in its endeavor to address the need of innovative solutions for mobile communications. Even more, there is a strong need for objective data about stability and performance of MBB (e.g., 3G/4G) networks, and for tools that rigorously and scientifically assess their status. In this paper, we introduce the MONROE measurement platform: an open access and flexible hardware-based platform for measurements and custom experimentation on operational MBB networks. The MONROE platform enables accurate, realistic and meaningful assessment of the performance and reliability of 11 MBB networks in Europe. We report on our experience designing, implementing and testing the solution we propose for the platform. We detail the challenges we overcame while building and testing the MONROE testbed and argue our design and implementation choices accordingly. We describe and exemplify the capabilities of the platform and the wide variety of experiments that external users already perform using the system.

Mobile broadband (MBB) networks underpin numerous vital operations of the society and are arguably becoming the most important piece of the communications infrastructure. In this demo paper, our goal is to showcase the potential of a novel multi-homed MBB platform for measuring, monitoring and assessing the performance of MBB services in an objective manner. Our platform, MONROE, is composed of hundreds of nodes scattered over four European countries and a backend system that collects the measurement results. Through a user-friendly web client, the experimenters can schedule and deploy their experiments. The platform further embeds traffic analysis tools for real-time traffic flow analysis and a powerful visualization tool.

Networked devices often come equipped with multiple network interfaces, and bandwidth aggregation is one of the many possible benefits of using multiple interfaces simultaneously. Real-world networks introduce several challenges that have often been ignored by related work on bandwidth aggregation. The challenges include limited connectivity due to NAT-boxes, link heterogeneity and link variability. In this paper, we present a transparent solution for proxy-based bandwidth aggregation that is able to overcome the different deployment and link heterogeneity challenges present in real-world networks. Our focus has been on increasing the performance of bandwidth-intensive UDP-based applications, and through evaluation we show that our solution efficiently aggregates bandwidth and increases the in-order throughput. Previously, we introduced a multi-link UDP proxy solution that improves in-order throughput. This paper presents a significant extension and improvement in terms of support for middle-boxes (NAT), congestion control, a client-based resequencer and support for all operating systems.

Devices capable of connecting to multiple, overlapping networks simultaneously are becoming increasingly common. For example, most laptops are equipped with LAN- and WLAN-interfaces, and smart phones can typically connect to both WLANs and 3G mobile networks. At the same time, streaming high-quality video is becoming increasingly popular. However, due to bandwidth limitations or the unreliable and unpredictable nature of some types of networks, streaming video can be subject to frequent periods of rebuffering and characterised by a low picture quality.

Multimedia streaming is increasing in popularity and has become one of the dominating services on the Internet today. Even though user devices are often equipped with multiple network interfaces and in reach of several access networks at the same time, media streams are normally communicated over only one of the available Internet connections. In this paper, we explore the challenges and potential benefits of using multiple access networks simultaneously. Exploiting HTTP's capability of handling requests for specific byte ranges of a file, we present the implementation of a lightweight, application-layer, on-demand streaming service that requires no changes to existing servers and infrastructure. Based on real-world experiments with a multihomed host, we investigate the potential performance gains of video-on-demand playout. We achieve a bandwidth aggregation efficiency of 90% when downloading over 3 heterogeneous access networks in parallel. In addition, we analyze the effect of file segmentation on the buffer requirements and the startup latency.

Today, mobile devices like laptops and cell phones often come equipped with multiple network interfaces, enabling clients to simultaneously connect to independent access networks. Even though applications, such as multimedia streaming and video-on-demand delivery systems, could potentially benefit greatly from the aggregated bandwidth, implementation and standardization challenges have so far hindered the deployment of multilink solutions. Previously, we have explored the benefits of collaboratively using multiple Internet connections to progressively download and play back large multimedia files. In this paper, we present an improved version of our approach that utilizes HTTP's capability of request pipelining in combination with range retrieval requests. While, in our earlier work, the optimal choice of file segmentation size presented a tradeoff between throughput and startup latency, the enhanced solution is able to overcome this tradeoff. The use of very small segments no longer impairs the efficiency of throughput aggregation, which additionally makes our solution robust against link variances and agnostic to network heterogeneity.

This paper develops novel mechanisms for recovering from failures in IP networks with proactive backup path calculations and Internet Protocol (IP) tunneling. The primary scheme provides resilience for up to two link failures along a path. The highlight of the developed routing approach is that a node reroutes a packet around the failed link without the knowledge of the second link failure. The proposed technique requires three protection addresses for every node, in addition to the normal address. Associated with every protection address of a node is a protection graph. Each link connected to the node is removed in at least one of the protection graphs, and every protection graph is guaranteed to be two-edge-connected. The network recovers from the first failure by tunneling the packet to the next-hop node using one of the protection addresses of the next-hop node; the packet is routed over the protection graph corresponding to that protection address. We prove that it is sufficient to provide up to three protection addresses per node to tolerate any arbitrary two link failures in a three-edge-connected graph. An extension to the basic scheme provides recovery from single-node failures in the network. It involves identification of the failed node in the packet path and then routing the packet to the destination along an alternate path not containing the failed node. The effectiveness of the proposed techniques were evaluated by simulating the developed algorithms over several network topologies.

This paper develops a novel mechanism for recovering from dual link failures in IP networks. The highlight of the developed routing approach is that a node re-routes a packet around the failed link without the knowledge of the second link failure. The proposed technique requires three protection addresses for every node, in addition to the normal address. Associated with every protection address of a node is a protection graph. Each link connected to the node is removed in at least one of protection graphs and every protection graph is guaranteed to be two-edge connected. The network recovers from the first failure by tunneling the packet to the next-hop node using one of the protection addresses of the next-hop node; and the packet is routed over the protection graph corresponding to that protection address. We prove that it is sufficient to provide up to three protection addresses per node to tolerate any arbitrary two link failures in a three-edge connected graph. We evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed technique over several network topologies.

With the increasing deployment of wireless technologies, such as WLAN, HSDPA, and WiMAX, it is often the case that simultaneous coverage of several access networks is available to a single user device. In addition, devices are also often equipped with multiple network interfaces. Thus, if we can exploit all available network interfaces at the same time, we can obtain advantages like the aggregation of bandwidth and increased fault tolerance. However, the heterogeneity and dynamics of the links also introduce challenges. Due to different link delays, sending packets of the same flow over multiple heterogeneous paths causes the reordering of packets. In this paper, we quantify the impact of network heterogeneity and the use of multiple links on IP packet reordering. We show with practical measurements, according to commonly used metrics, that packet reordering over multiple links exceeds the reordering caused by common connections in high-speed, wide- area networks. We also demonstrate that heterogeneity and reordering exceed the assumptions presented in related work. By using sufficiently large buffers, packet reordering can be avoided. However, for devices with high resource constraints, the workload of using large buffers is expensive. Sender-side solutions of dividing and scheduling a packet sequence over multiple links can reduce the buffer requirements at the receiver. Initial experiments with a static scheduler, that has knowledge of average link delay and throughput estimates, show that packet reordering can be reduced by only 38% due to the dynamic heterogeneity of the two links.

With today's widespread deployment of wireless technologies, it is often the case that a single communication device can select from a variety of access networks. At the same time, there is an ongoing trend towards integration of multiple network interfaces into end-hosts, such as cell phones with HSDPA, Bluetooth and WLAN. By using multiple Internet connections concurrently, network applications can benefit from aggregated bandwidth and increased fault tolerance. However, the heterogeneity of wireless environments introduce challenges with respect to implementation, deployment, and protocol compatibility. Variable link characteristics cause reordering when sending IP packets of the same flow over multiple paths. This paper introduces a multilink proxy that is able to transparently stripe traffic destined for multihomed clients. Operating on the network layer, the proxy uses path monitoring statistics to adapt to changes in throughput and latency. Experimental results obtained from a proof-of-concept implementation verify that our approach is able to fully aggregate the throughput of heterogeneous downlink streams, even if the path characteristics change over time. In addition, our novel method of equalizing delays by buffering packets on the proxy significantly reduces IP packet reordering and the buffer requirements of clients.

Multi-topology routing is an increasingly popular IP network management concept that allows transport of different traffic types over disjoint network paths. The concept is of particular interest for implementation of IP fast reroute (IP FRR). The authors have previously proposed an IP FRR scheme based on multi-topology routing called Multiple Routing Configurations (MRC). MRC supports guaranteed, instantaneous recovery from any single link or node failure in biconnected networks as well as from many combined failures, provided sufficient bandwidth on the surviving links. Furthermore, in MRC different failures result in routing over different network topologies, which gives a good control of the traffic distribution in the networks after a failure

Multi-topology routing is an increasingly popular IP network management concept that allows transport of different traffic types over disjoint network paths. The concept is of particular interest for implementation of IP fast reroute (IP FRR). First, it can support guaranteed, instantaneous recovery from any link or node failure. Second, different failures result in routing over different network topologies, which augments the parameter space for load distribution optimizations. Multiple routing configurations (MRC) is the state-of-the-art IP FRR scheme based on multi-topology routing today. In this paper we present a new, enhanced IP FRR scheme which we call ldquorelaxed MRCrdquo (rMRC). rMRC simplifies the topology construction and increases the routing flexibility in each topology. According to our experimental evaluation, rMRC has several benefits compared to MRC. The number of backup topologies required to provide protection against the same set of failures is reduced, hence reducing state in routers. In addition, the backup paths are shorter, and the link utilization is significantly better.

Slow convergence of IP routing in case of network component failures represents a problem for emerging time-critical network applications. It has motivated work on IP fast reroute mechanisms that use local, proactive recovery in order to immediately provide alternative routes for the affected data packets. We present a new mechanism for IP fast recovery called IP Redundant Trees (IPRT). IPRT builds two redundant trees per network destination and pre-calculates backup next hops based on them. Combined with a smart forwarding scheme, IPRT provides proactive, local and loop-free recovery in connectionless IP networks. IPRT is simple and flexible, and requires a low increase of the routing state amount. We evaluate several key performance metrics in IPRT and other actual IP fast recovery proposals and argue that IPRT indeed has very attractive properties.

Recovery of traffic in connectionless pure IP networks has traditionally been handled by a full re-convergence of the network state. This process operates in a time scale that is not compatible with new real time and highly dependable services. Recently, schemes for fast local and proactive recovery in connectionless IP networks have been proposed. All these schemes are designed to guarantee recovery of the failure of one component. As IP protocols are used to carry more highly dependable services and new wireless infrastructures are approaching, guaranteed failure coverage of more than one failure becomes necessary. In this paper we present and evaluate a scheme that guarantees to handle any two concurrent failures in a network. We are not aware of any other schemes that addresses such guarantees. We evaluate and compare it with other known recovery schemes, and we show how it gives substantially better recovery success rates than the schemes designed for one fault tolerance, also for more than two failures.

Abstract — As the Internet takes an increasingly central role in our communications infrastructure, the slow convergence of routing protocols after a network failure becomes a growing problem. To assure fast recovery from link and node failures in IP networks, we present a new recovery scheme called Multiple Routing Configurations (MRC). MRC is based on keeping additional routing information in the routers, and allows packet forwarding to continue on an alternative output link immediately after the detection of a failure. Our proposed scheme guarantees recovery in all single failure scenarios, using a single mechanism to handle both link and node failures, and without knowing the root cause of the failure. MRC is strictly connectionless, and assumes only destination based hop-by-hop forwarding. It can be implemented with only minor changes to existing solutions. In this paper we present MRC, and analyze its performance with respect to scalability, backup path lengths, and load distribution after a failure. I.

Most existing methods for network recovery are often complex and seldom used by network administrators. In this paper we present a novel approach for global and local recovery named resilient routing layers (RRL). The method is supported by algorithms, but also simple enough for a network administrator to implement by hand for reasonably sized networks. The idea in our approach is that for each node in the network there is a topology subset called a "safe layer", which can handle any traffic affected by a fault in the node itself, or any of its links. We demonstrate that our approach performs well compared to other comparable methods in a wide range of different network topologies. Particularly, we demonstrate RRLs performance for what are assumed to be the weakest parameters for our method, i.e., backup-path lengths and state information overhead. We discuss implementation issues of RRL, and demonstrate its applicability to MPLS networks.

We present a novel scheme for network recovery, named resilient routing layers (RRL). Our proposed scheme is based on calculating fully connected topology subsets, termed layers, which are used to forward traffic in case of a network failure. For the purpose of this work, the layers are created to protect against link failures only. RRL keeps pre-calculated backup routing information in the network stations. This allows local response to network failures, which gives recovery in the order of milliseconds. The main strengths of our approach are its flexibility, as it is independent of the network technology used, and its simplicity, as it offers the network operator a simple and coherent view of the resources available after a link failure. We also show that our scheme scales well for networks of several hundred nodes.