Selecting measurement paths for efficient network monitoring on a user-cooperative scheme

A user cooperative monitoring scheme is considered in which many but variable users´ off-the-shelf PCs are involved as measurement end-point nodes (called beacons) to actively measure the performance of end-to-end paths between beacons in order to detect end-to-end performance degradation and identify (narrow down) degraded network links. In the scheme, the measurement paths with beacons are dynamically selected by considering a trade-off between detection coverage and identification accuracy. From an ISP viewpoint, utilizing many users´ PCs as a measurement infrastructure has a potential to greatly reduce deployment and maintenance costs while individual PCs may vary and are not always stable. The effectiveness and feasibility of our solution are suggested through model simulations.