Packet path assurance for IP networks

✍ Scribed by Steven Makowski; Anwar Walid; Indra Widjaja

• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 214 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1089-7089
• DOI: 10.1002/bltj.20146

✦ Synopsis

This paper proposes a fast and simple technique, called packet path assurance (PPA) test, for admission control in packet networks that provide multimedia applications such as Voice over IP (VoIP). The distinctive features of the PPA test are that it uses active probes to evaluate the quality of the media path and that it runs in near real-time during the connection set-up interval; for example, during Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) connection set-up phase. Due to the limited amount of time available during a connection setup, only a small number of probe packets can be transmitted. We evaluate the efficacy of the PPA test for connection admission control (CAC). We design an admission control rule based on a statistical analysis of the data obtained from the PPA test. Our experiment confirms that a relatively small number of probe packets are adequate to support an efficient CAC test. The Packet Path Assurance technique is covered by Lucent patent applications.