Method for measurement of network path capacity with minimum delay difference

Abstract

A method for achieving fast and efficient measurement of path capacity of a communication network. The method includes the following steps: (a) transmitting a number of probes from a local endpoint to a remote endpoint over a network path and each probe contains at least two outgoing packets and each probe can elicit at least two response packets from the remote endpoint; (b) determining a first minDelay by measuring RTT between the time sending the first probe packet and the time receiving the first response packet; (c) determining a second minDelay by measuring RTT between the time sending the second probe packet and the time receiving the second response packet; and (d) determining a minimum delay difference by subtracting said first minDelay from said second minDelay. The minimum delay difference divided by packet size can be used as a measurement of the network path capacity.