Method for measurement of asymmetric network capacities

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for achieving efficient and accurate measurement of path capacities of a communication network. The method includes the following steps: (a) transmitting a number of probes from a local node to a remote node over a forward network path, each probe contains at least one probe packet and can elicit the remote node to transmit a number of response packets to the local node over a reverse network path; (b) determine for each response packet a minimum round-trip packet delay between the time transmitting the probe and the time receiving the response packet; (c) calculate a number of pair-wise minimum delay differences from the minimum round-trip packet delays. The number of pair-wise minimum delay differences can be used as a measurement of the forward capacity, reverse capacity, faster-path capacity, slower-path capacity and a degree of capacity asymmetry between the local node and the remote node.