NeTS: Small: Collaborative Research: Studying and Improving the Performance of Access Networks

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The United States will see increasing penetration of high-speed connectivity into homes as a result of the national broadband initiative and related infrastructure investments. Similarly, more users around the world are using broadband access networks as an important (if not primary) means of Internet access-for example, these networks are becoming increasingly prevalent in developing regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers, operators, and policymakers need to understand the performance of broadband access networks, how the performance of the network affects the services that people commonly use, and how ultimately to improve the performance of these networks and services. Many factors, ranging from a user's choice of equipment in their home network to congestion on network links to business arrangements between Internet service providers, can affect the performance that users experience for different applications. Yet, despite our dependence on Internet connectivity from broadband access networks, we have little understanding of how various factors affect the ultimate performance of popular services. A better understanding about the performance that users experience from the edge of the network and the causes of poor performance -- driven by data from real deployments and sound empirical methods -- can better inform our discussions about both policy and technology investment and ultimately improve the experience for billions of Internet users around the world. Understanding and improving performance in both home networks will require an underlying network infrastructure that is flexible, extensible, and easy to manage. The algorithms and tools that we develop to help users and network operators troubleshoot and improve network performance to users will ultimately lead to better performance and lower operational costs. Towards this goal, this project is developing platforms and first-of-their-kind datasets that will help users, operators, and researchers better understand the nature of performance in access networks. The project has two parts: (1) Characterizing and improving the performance of access networks; and (2) Characterizing and improving application and service performance from access networks. In contrast to previous studies of residential access networks, which have focused on the performance of the wired access link between the home network and the Internet service provider, this effort takes a holistic approach by also exploring the performance of the home wireless network and a range of factors inside the home that may ultimately contribute to the performance that users experience. Additionally, this project is developing better ways to help service providers determine why (and where) these performance degradations occur, such as whether problems are caused by the user's home network or device, the failure or degradation of some aspect of the service (e.g., the user?s domain name system (DNS) server may be slow), or some other cause. Building on existing collaborations with several large service providers, the investigators will explore the underlying causes of service performance degradation from the edge of the network, as well as ways to mitigate such degradation. The researchers will also work with policy organizations in developing regions to better understand the nature of their network and application performance, as well as possible mechanisms and recommendations for improving the performance in these regions.The project's outcomes will be disseminated in many ways, including integration into on-campus courses and, where appropriate, massive open online courses. The researchers have close relationships with Internet service providers, content providers, policy organizations, and regulators in several countries and plan to communicate the results of the research to these groups, through publications, talks, tutorials, and workshops. They also have a history of involving undergraduates and minorities in research and will extend these efforts as part of this project. For example, given the importance of measuring broadband in developing regions, the researchers will make specific concerted efforts to engage students in developing regions, through lectures, seminars, and, where applicable, direct advising.