Investigation of data transmission logs using the BestFit package

Multimedia interactive communication imposes very strict real time performance requirements on the data communication system. The design and modeling of such systems depends on the characteristics and intensity of data traffic to be carried. In this paper we look more closely on data traffic characterization and the network performance of a video conferencing system running on a packet switched LAN. Particular attention is devoted to different requirements of audio and video conferencing applications. We present an attempt at statistical modeling of data traffic intensity between two personal computers running NetMeeting application. Transmission of different scenes is analyzed, from a person reading a passage from a book to a taped recording of a rock video. For statistical testing we use the BestFit package from the Palisade Corporation, and attempt to match recorded traffic data against standard statistical distributions. The results indicate that only the video packet size can be satisfactorily modeled by standard statistical distributions, while interarrival times do not match any distributions supported by the package.