The round-trip time and congestion window are the most important rate-controlling variables in TCP. We present a novel method for estimating these variables from passive traffic measurements. The method uses four different techniques to infer the minimum round-trip time based the pacing of a limited number of packets. We then estimate the sequence of congestion windows and round-trip times for the whole flow. We validate our algorithms with the ns2 network simulator.
In this paper we model a computer network consisting of one standard Internet connection and one nonstandard connection that transmits uniformly sized bursts of packets at regular intervals. The nonstandard connection can represent probing activity of either a diagnostic measurement or attack. Using bifurcation diagrams, we study how the network's behavior changes as a function of the probing frequency. These diagrams reveal interesting, nonintuitive behavior. We present a series of models of increasing simplicity that capture the significant features of the network's behavior. Our simplest model is a piecewise linear, discontinuous one-dimensional map. This map helps explain the structure of the bifurcation diagram, and allows us to directly determine Lyapunov exponents, which give a measure of the system's predictability. As a result, we are able to more precisely describe and categorize the dynamics, including chaos, exhibited by this network.
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