3-6 PERFORMANCE

One important issue is the performance of the network

•how good is it?
•discuss quality of service,
•overall measurement of network performance,
Topics discussed :

▪ Bandwidth - capacity of the system

▪ Throughput - no. of bits that can be pushed through
▪ Latency (Delay) - delay incurred by a bit from start to finish
▪ Bandwidth-Delay Product

3.1

Figure 3.33 Concept of bandwidth-delay product

3.2
 Example 3.48

We can think about

The link between two points as a pipe
The cross section of the pipe represents the bandwidth,
The length of the pipe represents the delay
The volume of the pipe defines the bandwidth-delay
product

3.3

Note
we use the term bandwidth in two contexts
▪bandwidth in hertz,
the range of frequencies in a composite signal or
the range of frequencies that a channel can pass.
▪bandwidth in bits per second,
the number of bit transmission in a channel or
link. Often referred as Capacity.

3.4
 Throughput

■ Throughput refers to amount of data that can be transferred from one device to
another in a given amount of time
■ Throughput (bits/sec)=
((number of successful packets)*(average packet_size))/Total Time

Example 3.44

A network with bandwidth of 10 Mbps can pass only an

average of 12,000 frames per minute with each frame
carrying an average of 10,000 bits. What is the
throughput of this network?

Solution
We can calculate the throughput as

The throughput is almost one-fifth of the bandwidth

3.6
 Latency (Delay)
■ The latency or delay defines how long it takes for an
entire message to completely arrive at the destination,
from the time, the first bit is sent out from the source.

■ latency is made of four components: propagation time,

transmission time, queuing time and processing delay.

Latency =propagation time + transmission time

+ queuing time + processing delay

Propagation & Transmission speed

■ Propagation speed - speed at which a bit travels
though the medium from source to destination

Propagation Delay = Distance/Propagation

speed

■ Transmission speed - the speed at which all the

bits in a message arrive at the destination.

(difference in arrival time of first and last bit)

3.8
 Propagation and Transmission Delay

■ Propagation Delay = Distance/Propagation speed

■ Transmission Delay = Message size/bandwidth bps

Latency = Propagation delay + Transmission delay

+ Queuing time + Processing time

3.9

Queuing Time
■ The time needed for each intermediate or end device to
hold the message before it can be processed.
■ The queuing time is not a fixed factor; it changes with the
load imposed on the network.
■ When there is heavy traffic on the network, the queuing
time increases.
■ An intermediate device, such as a router, queues the
arrived messages and processes them one by one.
■ If there are many messages, each message will have to
wait.
Processing time
■ In packet switching, processing delay is the time it
takes routers to process the packet header.
■ Processing delay is a key component in network delay
■ It has been ignored as it is insignificant in nodes
 Example 3.45

What is the propagation time if the distance between the

two points is 12,000 km? Assume the propagation speed
to be 2.4 × 108 m/s in cable.

Solution
We can calculate the propagation time as

The example shows that a bit can go in only 50 ms if

there is a direct cable between the source and the
destination.
3.11

Example 3.46

What are the propagation time and the transmission time

for a 2.5-kbyte message (an e-mail) if the bandwidth of
the network is 1 Gbps? Assume that the distance between
the sender and the receiver is 12,000 km and that light
travels at 2.4 × 108 m/s.

Solution
We can calculate the propagation and transmission time

3.12
 Example 3.46 (continued)

Note that in this case, because the message is short and

the bandwidth is high, the dominant factor is the
propagation time, not the transmission time. The
transmission time can be ignored.

3.13

Example 3.47

What are the propagation time and the transmission time

for a 5-Mbyte message (an image) if the bandwidth of
the network is 1 Mbps? Assume that the distance
between the sender and the receiver is 12,000 km and
that light travels at 2.4 × 108 m/s.

Solution
We can calculate the propagation and transmission
times as shown on the next slide.

3.14
 Example 3.47 (continued)

Note
because the message is very long and the bandwidth is
not very high,
the dominant factor is the transmission time, not the
propagation time. The propagation time can be ignored.

3.15

Figure 3.31 Filling the link with bits for case 1

3.16
 Note

The bandwidth-delay product defines

the number of bits that can fill the link.

Bandwidth and delay

These are two performance metrics of a link.

3.17

Jitter
■ Another performance issue that is related to delay is

Jitter.
■ It is a problem if different packets of data encounter

different delays and the application using the data at the

receiver site is time-sensitive (Eg: audio and video data)
■ If the delay for the first packet is 20 ms, for the second

is 45 ms, and for the third is 40 ms, then the real-time

application that uses the packets endures jitter
 ■ For example, let us assume that a real-time video server creates live
video images and sends them online.
■ The video is digitized and packetized.
■ There are only three packets, and each packet holds 10s of video
information.
■ The first packet starts at 00:00:00, the second packet starts at
00:00: 10, and the third packet starts at 00:00:20.
■ Also imagine that it takes 1 s (an exaggeration for simplicity) for
each packet to reach the destination (equal delay).
■ The receiver can play back the first packet at 00:00:01, the second
packet at 00:00:11, and the third packet at 00:00:21.
■ Although there is a I-s time difference between what the server
sends and what the client sees on the computer screen, the action
is happening in real time.
■ The time relationship between the packets is preserved

3.20
■ But what happens if the packets arrive with different delays?
■ For example, say the first packet arrives at 00:00:01 (l-s delay), the
second arrives at 00:00: 15 (5-s delay), and the third arrives at
00:00:27 (7-s delay). If the receiver starts playing the first packet at
00:00:01, it will finish at 00:00: 11. However, the next packet has
not yet arrived; it arrives 4 s later.
■ There is a gap between the first and second packets and between
the second and the third as the video is viewed at the remote site.
This phenomenon is called jitter.
■ The figure below shows the situation.
Timestamp
■ One solution to jitter is the use of a timestamp. If each packet has a
timestamp that shows the time it was produced relative to the first
(or previous) packet, then the receiver can add this time to the time
at which it starts the playback.
■ In other words, the receiver knows when each packet is to be
played.
■ Imagine the first packet in the previous example has a timestamp of
0, the second has a timestamp of 10, and the third has a timestamp
of 20.
■ If the receiver starts playing back the first packet at 00:00:08, the
second will be played at 00:00: 18 and the third at 00:00:28.
■ There are no gaps between the packets.
■ To prevent jitter, we can time-stamp the packets and
■ separate the arrival time from the playback time.
■ The figure below shows the situation.