Empirical Models of End-User Network Behavior from NETI@home Data Analysis

Abstract

The simulation of computer networks requires accurate models of user behavior. To this end, we present empirical models of end-user network traffic derived from the analysis of NETI@home (NETwork Intelligence at home) data. There are two forms of models presented. The first models traffic for a specific Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port. The second models all TCP or UDP traffic for an end-user. These models are meant to be network-independent and contain aspects such as bytes sent, bytes received, and user think time. The empirical models derived in this study can then be used to enable more realistic simulations of computer networks and are implemented in the Georgia Tech Network Simulator (GTNetS).