PathRefiner: Accurate Bandwidth Estimation Using Large-Sized Virtual Packets for High-Speed Networks.

To estimate available bandwidth of high-speed lines with high accuracy, we propose PathRefiner, a bandwidth estimation method with two techniques: (1) packet concatenation technique(2) iterative resolution refinement technique. It is one of the so-called packet train methods that estimate available bandwidth by transmitting multiple probing packets. (1) The packet concatenation technique virtually generates large packets necessary for estimating available bandwidth on high-speed lines by concatenating multiple packets of MTU size or smaller. (2) The iterative resolution refinement technique improves the resolution of estimation and enables highly accurate estimation of available bandwidth while minimizing the network load for estimation by finding the optimal number of large-sized virtual packets to be concatenated. As a result, the average value of the relative error between the ground truth and the estimated available bandwidth is relatively small (14.4%), confirming that PathRefiner can accurately estimate the available bandwidth of 1 Gbps high-speed lines.