[Nets-seminars] Talk tomorrow 24/2/12 16:00

[Richard G. Clegg]

Tomorrow's talk (24/2/12) is at 16:00 in GS/302 (66-72 Gower Street). 
The talk is by Sam Crawford from "Samknows".

Title: Measuring end-to-end broadband performance with a large 
deployment of hardware probes


"Measuring the performance delivered by a nation's communications
operators is key to ensuring a fair and accountable market. Studies
have shown this to be demonstrably difficult, with multiple broadband
measurement services offering wildly varying figures [1]. Whilst much
of the difference can be accounted for by differing technical
methodologies, there are other factors too (such as the sample) that
can cause variance.

In mid-2008 SamKnows began an effort to provide an accurate, reliable
and repeatable broadband performance measurements for Ofcom (the UK
telecoms regulator). Uniquely, this project utilised hardware probes
to avoid 'cross-traffic' and other in-home issues that may affect
measurements. Since then this platform has evolved significantly and
has been adopted by regulators worldwide.

This talk focuses on the technical challenges of delivering a large,
distributed hardware measurement platform. Non-technical challenges
(such as logistical and sampling considerations) are discussed too. We
also take a brief look at the key findings of the regulators' studies
in the UK and US.

Areas of interest / key phrases:
- Network programming
- Network measurement
- Hardware hacking
- OpenWrt

1. Bauer et al.
http://mitas.csail.mit.edu/papers/Bauer_Clark_Lehr_Broadband_Speed_Measurements.pdf"


-- 
Richard G. Clegg,
Dept of Elec. Eng.,
University College London
http://www.richardclegg.org/