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

NeTS：小型：协作研究：研究和提高接入网络的性能

• 批准号: 1422240
• 负责人: Alex Snoeren
• 金额: $ 22.83万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-10-01 至 2017-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1422240&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NeTS; Small; Collaborative; Research; Studying

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.

由于国家宽带计划和相关基础设施投资，美国将看到高速连接越来越多地渗透到家庭中。同样，世界各地越来越多的用户正在使用宽带接入网络作为重要的（如果不是主要的）互联网接入方式——例如，这些网络在撒哈拉以南非洲的发展中地区变得越来越普遍。 研究人员、运营商和政策制定者需要了解宽带接入网络的性能、网络性能如何影响人们常用的服务以及最终如何提高这些网络和服务的性能。 从用户在其家庭网络中选择的设备到网络链路的拥塞，再到互联网服务提供商之间的业务安排，许多因素都会影响用户对不同应用程序的体验性能。然而，尽管我们依赖宽带接入网络的互联网连接，但我们对各种因素如何影响流行服务的最终性能知之甚少。 更好地了解用户从网络边缘体验到的性能以及性能不佳的原因（由实际部署的数据和合理的实证方法驱动）可以更好地为我们关于政策和技术投资的讨论提供信息，并最终改善为全球数十亿互联网用户提供体验。 了解和提高两个家庭网络的性能需要灵活、可扩展且易于管理的底层网络基础设施。我们开发的算法和工具旨在帮助用户和网络运营商排除故障并提高用户的网络性能，最终将带来更好的性能和更低的运营成本。 为了实现这一目标，该项目正在开发平台和首个数据集，以帮助用户、运营商和研究人员更好地了解接入网络性能的本质。 该项目分为两个部分：（1）表征和改进接入网络的性能； (2) 表征并改进接入网络的应用和服务性能。 以前的住宅接入网络研究主要关注家庭网络和互联网服务提供商之间的有线接入链路的性能，与此相反，这项工作采用了整体方法，还探索了家庭无线网络和一系列网络的性能。最终可能影响用户体验性能的家庭内部因素。 此外，该项目正在开发更好的方法来帮助服务提供商确定这些性能下降的原因（以及地点），例如问题是否是由用户的家庭网络或设备引起的、服务某些方面的故障或降级（例如，用户的域名系统 (DNS) 服务器可能很慢）或其他原因。基于与多家大型服务提供商的现有合作，研究人员将探索网络边缘服务性能下降的根本原因，以及缓解这种下降的方法。 研究人员还将与发展中地区的政策组织合作，更好地了解其网络和应用性能的性质，以及提高这些地区性能的可能机制和建议。该项目的成果将以多种方式传播，包括整合进入校园课程，并在适当的情况下进入大规模开放在线课程。 研究人员与多个国家的互联网服务提供商、内容提供商、政策组织和监管机构有着密切的关系，并计划通过出版物、讲座、教程和研讨会向这些团体传达研究结果。 他们也有让本科生和少数族裔参与研究的历史，并将作为该项目的一部分扩大这些努力。 例如，考虑到测量发展中地区宽带的重要性，研究人员将做出具体的协调努力，通过讲座、研讨会以及（如果适用）直接建议来吸引发展中地区的学生。