Method of estimating call level traffic intensity based on channel link measurements

• US 6,560,204 B1
• Filed: 03/02/1999
• Issued: 05/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hanger Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Telcordia Technologies Incorporated (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Rayes, Ammar
• Primary Examiner(s): Rao, Seema S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Harper, Kevin C.
• Application Number:
  US09/260,109
• Time in Patent Office: 1,526 Days
• Field of Search: 370/241, 370/252, 370/253, 370/229, 370/230, 370/232, 370/233, 370/234, 370/235, 370/400, 370/231
• US Class Current: 370/253
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/142 using statistical or mathematical methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0894 Packet rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for estimating the source-destination traffic in a packet-switched network. Source-destination traffic is critical input to a variety of network engineering and planning functions. However, it is difficult and prohibitively expensive to directly measure source-destination traffic in a packet-switched network. Channel link measurements are more readily available for packet-switched networks. Thus, methods and systems in accordance with the present invention use channel link measurements, along with knowledge of traffic paths through the network for source-destination pairs, to estimate source-destination traffic.

Claims

1. A method for estimating source-destination traffic for a packet-switched communications network, wherein the network includes a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links, and wherein the network includes a plurality of source-destination node pairs, wherein each source-destination pair is assigned at least one traffic path between the source node of the pair and the destination node of the pair, each traffic path including at least one link, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining a measurement of traffic arriving on each of the plurality of links;

obtaining a measurement of traffic overflowing from each of the plurality of links;

determining a relationship between the measurement of traffic arriving on each of the plurality of links and a traffic rate for each source-destination pair based on the assignment of traffic paths to the plurality of source-destination pairs and the measurements of traffic arriving on and overflowing from each of the plurality of links; and

determining an estimate of the traffic rate for each of the plurality of source-destination pairs based on the measurement of traffic arriving on each of the plurality of links and the determined relationship between the measurement of traffic arriving on each of the plurality of links and the traffic rate for each source-destination pair.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining an estimate includes determining a least squares estimator for the call level traffic rate.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining an estimate includes minimizing an angle between a vector of the estimated call level traffic rates for the plurality of source-destination pairs and a vector of desired traffic ratios among the plurality of source-destination pairs.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining an estimate includes the substep of using an initial estimate of a call level traffic rate for each of the plurality of source-destination pairs.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the initial estimate is based on traffic data recorded by the network.

3. The method of claim I wherein the step of determining an estimate includes determining a maximum likelihood estimator for the call level traffic rate.

7. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for estimating source-destination traffic in a packet-switched communications network, wherein the network includes a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links, and wherein the network includes a plurality of source-destination node pairs, wherein each source-destination pair is assigned at least one traffic path between the source node of the pair and the destination node of the pair, each traffic path including at least one link, by:

obtaining a measurement of traffic arriving on each of the plurality of links;

obtaining a measurement of traffic overflowing from each of the plurality of links;

determining a relationship between the measurement of traffic arriving on each of the plurality of links and a traffic rate for each source-destination pair based on the assignment of traffic paths to the plurality of source-destination pairs and the measurements of traffic arriving on and overflowing from each of the plurality of links; and

determining an estimate of the traffic rate for each of the plurality of source-destination pairs based on the measurement of traffic arriving on each of the plurality of links and the determined relationship between the measurement of traffic arriving on each of the plurality of links and the traffic rate for each source-destination pair.

8. A system for estimating source-destination traffic in a packet-switched communications network, wherein the network includes a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links, and wherein the network includes a plurality of source-destination node pairs, wherein each source-destination pair is assigned at least one traffic path between the source node of the pair and the destination node of the pair, each traffic path including at least one link, the system comprising:

means for obtaining a measurement of traffic arriving on each of the plurality of links;

means for obtaining a measurement of traffic overflowing from each of the plurality of links;

a memory comprising a traffic estimation program; and

a processor utilizing the traffic estimation program to

determine a relationship between the measurement of traffic arriving on each of the plurality of links and a traffic rate for each source-destination pair based on the assignment of traffic paths to the plurality of source-destination pairs and the measurements of traffic arriving on and overflowing from each of the plurality of links; and

determine an estimate of the traffic rate for each of the plurality of source-destination pairs based on the measurement of traffic arriving on each of the plurality of links and the determined relationship between the measurement of traffic arriving on each of the plurality of links and the traffic rate for each source-destination pair.