A resource friendly approach for estimating available bandwidth in secure mobile wireless IP networks

Estimation of available bandwidth for an end-to-end network path allows traffic sources to judiciously regulate the volume of application traffic injected into the network. For example, knowing that the available bandwidth is small could be applied at a source for proactive congestion control by preempting low priority traffic. To address bandwidth estimation in future battlefield networks, a study was launched under the ARMY CERDEC multi-functional on-the-move secure adaptive integrated communications (MOSAIC) program. In this paper, novel techniques developed under the MOSAIC program for estimating end-to-end available bandwidth are presented that do not require active probing and are immune to clock offset. The path parameters that are estimated include end-to-end queuing, transmission and deterministic delays, in addition to available bandwidth, narrow link capacity, and path utilization. Furthermore, the proposed techniques are suitable for encrypted wireless networks with strict rules forbidding interactions across a cryptographic boundary between network routers and traffic sources (e.g., red-black networks). Results of simulations that assess the performance of the available bandwidth estimation techniques are reported herein.