Evaluation of End–to–End QoS Mechanisms in IP Networks

Abstract

The primary challenges in the deployment of Voice over Internet Protocol technology include Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees in the form of stringent bounds on end-to-end delay, jitter and loss, as well as rigorous validation of subjective and objective end-to-end quality. The performance of subjective tests to indirectly optimize transported voice quality requires test administrators to modify and compare the effect of network configurations for a large population of users. The impasse between control of network configuration and control of effective test design has prompted us to approach this joint optimization problem from the perspective of a programmable network testbed. The Video and Voice over IP Environment for Research (VVIPER) has been designed for this purpose. This paper describes design and implementation of this testbed, and presents samples of the performance results gathered for various popular IP-based QoS technologies.