Multi-Timescale Modelling of Ethernet Traffic

Abstract: Ethernet is one of the most common link layer technologies, used in local area networks, wireless networks and wide area networks. There is however a lack of traffic models for Ethernet that is usable in performance analysis. In this thesis we describe an Ethernet traffic model. The model aims at matching multiple moments of the bit rate at several timescales. To match the model parameters to measured traffic, four methods have been developed and tested on real traffic traces. Once a model has been created, it can be used directly in a fluid flow performance analysis. Our results show that, as the number of sources present on an Ethernet link grows, the model becomes better and less complex.