Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

BSense: A Flexible and Open-Source Broadband Mapping Framework

  • Published:
Mobile Networks and Applications Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We present, BSense, a flexible broadband mapping system for broadband coverage and quality assessment of broadband connections in a given geographic region. For coverage related analysis, it relies on data that is either obtained from ISPs or generated based on technology models and information about infrastructure sites. Broadband quality assessment in BSense is via host-based measurements using our multi-platform and technology-adaptive software client which periodically runs as a background process on users’ computers. The host-based software measurement approach employed in BSense is not only cost-effective but is also flexible and reduces measurement bias. BSense also incorporates a flexible broadband quality index for summarizing the collective effect of various underlying attributes such as download/upload speeds and latency. BSense system has been implemented based on open-source software components. We conduct extensive evaluations of the measurement component of BSense aimed at quantifying system effects and to compare against other measurement techniques and approaches, the latter showing that BSense is fairly close to sophisticated and expensive alternatives. The usefulness of the BSense system is demonstrated using two real world case studies, one on identifying notspots in Scotland and the other on broadband quality assessment in a rural part of Scotland through pilot deployment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. BSense implementation is publicly available via http://code.google.com/p/wimo-bsense/

  2. http://www.postgresql.org/

  3. http://postgis.refractions.net/

  4. Census block would be an equivalent unit in the US.

  5. http://www.geoext.org/

  6. http://openlayers.org/

  7. http://www.geoserver.org

  8. http://qt.nokia.com

  9. http://www.broadband.gov/

  10. The TCP receive window is used by the receiver to tell the sender the buffer size available to store incoming data. The TCP window scale option, described in RFC 1323, is needed when the bandwidth-delay product is greater than 64K. If not supported or enabled, the achievable throughput of a single TCP connection may be limited (e.g., in case of a 80ms link, it cannot exceed 6.55 Mb/s).

References

  1. Ofcom UK mobile services map (2013) http://maps.ofcom.org.uk/mobile-services/

  2. Ofcom UK fixed broadband map (2013) http://maps.ofcom.org.uk/broadband/

  3. US national broadband map. http://broadbandmap.gov/

  4. Broadband map for Germany. http://www.breitbandatlas.de

  5. Ookla speedtest. http://www.speedtest.net/

  6. Grenouille http://www.grenouille.com/

  7. Grubesic TH (2008) Spatial data constraints: implications for measuring broadband. Telecommun Policy 32(7)

  8. Ofcom (2008) Assessment of the theoretical limits of copper in the last mile. http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/other/technology-research/research/emerging-tech/copper/

  9. SamKnows. http://www.samknows.com/broadband/

  10. Sundaresan S, et al (2012) Measuring home broadband performance. Commun ACM 55(11)

  11. Network diagnostic tool (NDT). http://www.measurementlab.net/tools/ndt

  12. Dischinger M, Haeberlen A, Gummadi K, Saroiu S (2007) Characterizing residential broadband networks. In: Proc. Internet measurement conference (IMC)

  13. Russell S, Norvig P (2010) Artificial intelligence: a modern approach, chapter 16. Pearson

  14. Kanuparthy P, Dovrolis C (2011) ShaperProbe: end-to-end detection of ISP traffic shaping using active methods. In: Proc. Internet measurement conference (IMC)

  15. Ofcom (2011) Measuring mobile broadband in the UK. http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/other/telecoms-research/broadband-speeds/main/mobile-bb-10

  16. Bernardi G, Marina MK (2010) Short paper: BSense – a system for enabling automated broadband census. In: Proc.4th ACM workshop on networked systems for developing regions (NSDR’10)

  17. de Donato W, Botta A, Pescape A (2014) HoBBIT: a platform for monitoring broadband performance from the user network. In: Proc. 6th international workshop on traffic monitoring and analysis (TMA’14)

  18. Bagnulo M, et al (2014) Building a standard measurement platform. IEEE Commun 52(5)

  19. DiCioccio L, Teixeira R, Rosenberg C (2013) Measuring home networks with HomeNet profiler. In: Proc. Passive and active measurement (PAM) conference

  20. Grover S, et al (2013) Peeking behind the NAT: an empirical study of home networks. In: Proc. Internet measurement conference (IMC)

  21. Canadi I, Barford P, Sommers J (2012) Revisiting broadband performance. In: Proc. Internet measurement conference (IMC)

  22. Sundaresan S, Feamster N, Teixeira R, Magharei N (2013) Measuring and mitigating web performance bottlenecks in broadband access networks. In: Proc. Internet measurement conference (IMC)

  23. Chetty M, et al (2013) Measuring broadband performance in South Africa. In: Proc. 4th annual ACM symposium on computing for development (DEV)

  24. Koradia Z, et al (2013) First impressions on the state of cellular data connectivity in India. In: Proc. 4th annual ACM symposium on computing for development (DEV)

  25. Vicente M, Gil de Bernab F (2010) Assessing the broadband gap: From the penetration divide to the quality divide. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 77(5)

  26. Joumblatt D, Teixeira R, Chandrashekar J, Taft N (2010) Hostview: annotating end-host performance measurements with user feedback. ACM SIGMETRICS Perform Eval Rev 38 (3)

  27. Sundaresan S, et al (2011) Helping users shop for ISPs with internet nutrition labels. Proc. ACM HomeNets

  28. Joumblatt D, Goga O, Teixeira R, Chandrashekar J, Taft N (2012) Characterizing end-host application performance across multiple networking environments. In: Proc. IEEE INFOCOM

  29. Botta A, Dainotti A, Pescape A (2012) A tool for the generation of realistic network workload for emerging networking scenarios. Comput Netw 56(15)

  30. Carbone M, Rizzo L (2010) Dummynet revisited. Comput Commun Rev 40(2)

  31. Bernardi G, Buneman P, Marina M K (2008) Tegola tiered mesh network testbed in rural Scotland. In: Proc. ACM mobicom workshop on wireless networks and systems for developing regions (WiNS-DR’08)

  32. Bauer S, Clark D, Lehr W (2009) Understanding broadband speed measurements. MITAS Project White Paper

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Dimitrios Pezaros for his participation and inputs to this project. We also thank Mike Fourman whose suggestion gave birth to this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Giacomo Bernardi, Damon Fenacci & Mahesh K. Marina

Authors
  1. Giacomo Bernardi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Damon Fenacci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mahesh K. Marina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mahesh K. Marina.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bernardi, G., Fenacci, D. & Marina, M.K. BSense: A Flexible and Open-Source Broadband Mapping Framework. Mobile Netw Appl 19, 772–789 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11036-014-0542-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11036-014-0542-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation