A network performance application for modeling, simulation, and characterization of packet network behavior

This paper details the development of an educational and research tool, the network performance application (NetPerf), which provided real-time network performance measurement through simulated real-time data transmission over packet networks. This application is used to collect quality of service (QoS) statistics such as packet loss, end-to-end delay, inter-arrival delay jitter, and out-of-order packet delivery. NetPerf is written in Visual C++ using MFC for MS Windows environments. The program runs in a server/client pair over two computers connected via IP networks. Network time protocol (NTP) is used to synchronize each PC for accurate time measurement of packet arrivals. The user specifies transmission parameters such as packet send rate, frames per packet, packet size, etc. NetPerf initiates a connection, records all packet sending/arrival times, generates a data log, and performs statistical calculations.