Inference of link loss rates by explicit estimation

A Fast and Efficient Node Loss-Rate Estimator for Wireless Networks

“…Network performance tomography refers to the group of methods proposed for inferring performance characteristics of the network interior, such as link loss rate [1][2][3][4][5][6]7], topology [8,9] and delay distribution [10], using the information derived from end-point statistics. This ability makes network tomography especially attractive in applications needing to know about the network internal performance but which do not have access to either measurements or network information directly.…”

“…Furthermore the reason for packet loss in WLANs can be different from wireline case. In a wireline network, the loss rate of each link in a multicast tree can be modelled by independent Bernoulli processes [1][2][3][4][5]. As can be seen from Fig.…”

“…EM executes an iterative procedure to search for the solution in a multi-dimensional space, making the algorithm computation-and time-expensive and therefore infeasible for real-time application in a large scale wireless network. Su et al proposed a fast path-based approach (FPA) in wireline networks [4], where the path loss rates are identified first instead of direct estimation of link loss rates. This solution requires simple arithmetic calculation and is accurate.…”

“…The method is based on adopting FPA [4] into inferring node-based (instead of path-based) loss rates. The new node-based loss model links together the nodebased and path-based loss inference methods by introducing the concepts of internal virtual node and children virtual nodes.…”

“…The new node-based loss model links together the nodebased and path-based loss inference methods by introducing the concepts of internal virtual node and children virtual nodes. Then, using the FPA algorithm [4], we first identify all loss rates of internal virtual nodes. The node loss rate then can be estimated directly as a function of the loss rates of the internal virtual nodes.…”