Questions

1. In this problem we consider sending voice from Host A to Host B over a packet-
switched network (e.g., Internet phone). Host A converts on-the-fly analog voice to
a digital 64 kbps bit stream. Host A then groups the bits into 48-byte packets.
There is one link between host A and B; its transmission rate is 1 Mbps and its
propagation delay is 2 msec. As soon as Host A gathers a packet, it sends it to Host
B. As soon as Host B receives an entire packet, it coverts the packet's bits to an
analog signal. How much time elapses from when a bit is created (from the original
analog signal at A) until a bit is decoded (as part of the analog signal at B)?

Solution:

Consider the first bit in a packet. Before this bit can be transmitted, all of the bits
in the packet must be generated. This requires

48 8
sec=6msec.
64 10 3

The time required to transmit the packet is

48 8
sec= 384 sec.
1 10 6

Propagation delay = 2 msec.

The delay until decoding is

6msec + 384 sec + 2msec = 8.384msec

A similar analysis shows that all bits experience a delay of 8.384 msec.

2. (a) Generalize the end-to-end delay formula in Section 1.6 for heterogeneous
processing rates, transmission rates, and propagation delays. (b) Repeat (a), but
now also suppose that there is an average queuing delay of dqueue at each node.
q
a) There are Q nodes (the source host and the N 1 routers). Let d proc denote the
processing delay at the q th node. Let R q be the transmission rate of the q th link
and let
L / R q . Let d prop be the propagation delay across the q th link. Then
q q
d trans

Q
d end to end d proc
q
d trans
q
d prop
q
.
q 1

b) Let d queue denote the average queueing delay at node q . Then

q

Q
d end to end d proc
q
d trans
q
d prop
q
d queue
q
.
q 1
 3. Calculate the total time required to transfer a 1000-KB file in the following cases,
assuming an RTT of 100 ms, a packet size of 1 KB and an initial 2 RTT of
handshaking before data is sent.

(a) The bandwidth is 1.5 Mbps, and data packets can be sent continuously.
(b) The bandwidth is 1.5 Mbps, but after we finish sending each data packet we
must wait one RTT before sending the next.
(c) The bandwidth is infinite, meaning that we take transmit time to be zero, and
up to 20 packets can be sent per RTT.
(d) The bandwidth is infinite, and during the first RTT we can send one packet
(211), during the second RTT we can send two packets (221), during the third
we can send four (231), and so on. (A justification for such an exponential
increase will be given in Chapter 6.)

We will count the transfer as completed when the last data bit arrives at its
destination.
An alternative interpretation would be to count until the last ACK arrives back at
the sender, in which case the time would be half an RTT (50ms) longer.

(a) 2 initial RTTs (200ms) + 1000KB/1.5Mbps (transmit) + RTT/2 (propagation)

0.25 + 8Mbit/1.5Mbps = 0.25 + 5.33 sec = 5.58 sec. If we pay more careful
attention to when a mega is 106 versus 220, we get 8,192,000
bits/1,500,000bits/sec = 5.46 sec, for a total delay of 5.71 sec.
(b) To the above we add the time for 999 RTTs (the number of RTTs between when
packet 1 arrives and packet 1000 arrives), for a total of 5.71+99.9 =105.61.
(c) This is 49.5 RTTs, plus the initial 2, for 5.15 seconds.
(d) Right after the handshaking is done we send one packet. One RTT after the
handshaking we send two packets. At n RTTs past the initial handshaking we have
sent 1 + 2 + 4 + + 2n = 2n+1 1 packets. At n = 9 we have thus been able to
send all 1,000 packets; the last batch arrives 0.5 RTT later.

Total time is 2+9.5 RTTs, or 1.15 sec.

4. Consider a point-to-point link 2 km in length. At what bandwidth would propagation

delay (at a speed of 2108 m/s) equal transmit delay for 100-byte packets? What
about 512-byte packets?

Propagation delay is 2103m/(2108m/sec) = 1105 sec = 10s. 100 bytes/10s

is 10 bytes/s, or 10MB/sec, or 80Mbit/sec. For 512-byte packets, this rises to
409.6Mbit/sec.

5. How wide is a bit on a 1-Gbps link? How long is a bit in copper wire, where the
speed of propagation is 2.3 108 m/s?

1 Gbps = 109 bps, meaning each bit is 109 sec (1 ns) wide. The length in the wire
of such a bit is 1 ns 2.3 108 m/sec = 0.23 m
 6. Suppose a 100-Mbps point-to-point link is being set up between Earth and a new
lunar colony. The distance from the moon to Earth is approximately 385,000 km,
and data travels over the link at the speed of light3 108 m/s.

(a) Calculate the minimum RTT for the link.

(b) Using the RTT as the delay, calculate the delay bandwidth product for the
link.
(c) What is the significance of the delay bandwidth product computed in (b)?
(d) A camera on the lunar base takes pictures of Earth and saves them in digital
format to disk. Suppose Mission Control on Earth wishes to download the most
current image, which is 25 MB. What is the minimum amount of time that will
elapse between when the request for the data goes out and the transfer is
finished?

(a) The minimum RTT is 2 385, 000, 000m / 3108m/sec = 2.57 sec.
(b) The delaybandwidth product is 2.57 sec100Mb/sec = 257Mb = 32MB.
(c) This represents the amount of data the sender can send before it would be
possible to receive a response.
(d) We require at least one RTT before the picture could begin arriving at the
ground (TCP would take two RTTs). Assuming bandwidth delay only, it would then
take 25MB/100Mbps = 200Mb/100Mbps = 2.0 sec to finish sending, for a total time
of 2.0 + 2.57 = 4.57 sec until the last picture bit arrives on earth.

8. For each of the following operations on a remote file server, discuss whether they
are more likely to be delay sensitive or bandwidth sensitive.

(a) Open a file.

(b) Read the contents of a file.
(c) List the contents of a directory.
(d) Display the attributes of a file.

(a) Delay-sensitive; the messages exchanged are short.

(b) Bandwidth-sensitive, particularly for large files. (Technically this does presume
that the underlying protocol uses a large message size or window size; stop-and-
wait transmission (as in Section 2.5 of the text) with a small message size would
be delay-sensitive.)
(c) Delay-sensitive; directories are typically of modest size.
(d) Delay-sensitive; a files attributes are typically much smaller than the file itself
(even on NT file systems).

9. Calculate the latency (from first bit sent to last bit received) for the following:
(a) 10-Mbps Ethernet with a single store-and-forward switch in the path, and a
packet size of 5000 bits. Assume that each link introduces a propagation delay
of 10 s and that the switch begins retransmitting immediately after it has
finished receiving the packet.
(b)Same as (a) but with three switches.
Same as (a) but assume the switch implements cut-through switching: It is able
to begin retransmitting the packet after the first 200 bits have been received.
 (a) One packet consists of 5000 bits, and so is delayed due to bandwidth 500 s
along each link. The packet is also delayed 10 s on each of the two links due to
propagation delay, for a total of 1020s.
(b) With three switches and four links, the delay is
4 500s + 4 10s = 2.04ms
(c) With cut-through, the switch delays the packet by 200 bits = 20s. There is still
one 500s delay waiting for the last bit, and 20s of propagation delay, so the total
is 540s. To put it another way, the last bit still arrives 500s after the first bit; the
first bit now faces two link delays and one switch delay but never has to wait for
the last bit along the way. With three cut-through switches, the total delay would
be:
500 + 3 20 + 4 10 = 600 s

10. Calculate the bandwidth delay product for the following links. Use one-way
delay, measured from first bit sent to first bit received.
(a) 10-Mbps Ethernet with a delay of 10 s.
(b) 10-Mbps Ethernet with a single store-and-forward switch like that of Exercise
18(a), packet size 5000 bits, and 10 s per link propagation delay.
(c) 1.5-Mbps T1 link, with a transcontinental one-way delay of 50 ms.
(d) 1.5-Mbps T1 link through a satellite in geosynchronous orbit, 35,900 km high.
The only delay is speed-of-light propagation delay.

(a) 1107bits/sec 106 sec = 100 bits = 12.5 bytes

(b) The first-bit delay is 520s through the store-and-forward switch, as in 18(a).
107bits/sec 520106 sec = 5200 bits. Alternatively, each link can hold 100 bits
and the switch can hold 5000 bits.
(c) 1.5106 bits/sec 50 103 sec = 75,000 bits = 9375 bytes
(d) This was intended to be through a satellite, i.re. between two ground stations,
not to a satellite; this ground-to-ground interpretation makes the total one-way
travel distance 235,900,000 meters. With a propagation speed of c = 3108
meters/sec, the one-way propagation delay is thus 235,900,000/c = 0.24 sec.
Bandwidth delay is thus 1.5 106 bits/sec 0.24 sec = 360,000 bits 45
Kbytes

11. For the following, assume that no data compression is done; this would in practice
almost never be the case. For (a)(c), calculate the bandwidth necessary for
transmitting in real time:

(a) Video at a resolution of 640 480, 3 bytes/pixel, 30 frames/second.

(b) 160 120 video, 1 byte/pixel, 5 frames/second.
(c) CD-ROM music, assuming one CD holds 75 minutes worth and takes 650 MB.
(d) Assume a fax transmits an 810-inch black-and-white image at a resolution of
72 pixels per inch. How long would this take over a 14.4-Kbps modem?

(a) 640 480 3 30 bytes/sec = 26.4 MB/sec

(b) 160 120 1 5 = 96,000 bytes/sec = 94KB/sec
(c) 650MB/75min = 8.7 MB/min = 148 KB/sec
(d) 8 10 72 72 pixels = 414,720 bits = 51,840 bytes. At 14,400 bits/sec, this
would take 28.8 seconds (ignoring overhead for framing and acknowledgments).
12. Discuss the relative performance needs of the following applications, in terms of
average bandwidth, peak bandwidth, latency, jitter, and loss tolerance:

(a) File server

(b) Print server
(c) Digital library
(d) Routine monitoring of remote weather instruments
(e) Voice
(f) Video monitoring of a waiting room
(g) Television broadcasting

(a) A file server needs lots of peak bandwidth. Latency is relevant only if it
dominates bandwidth; jitter and average bandwidth are inconsequential.
No lost data is acceptable, but without real-time requirements we can simply
retransmit lost data.
(b) A print server needs less bandwidth than a file server (unless images are
extremely large). We may be willing to accept higher latency than (a), also.
(c) A file server is a digital library of a sort, but in general the world wide web gets
along reasonably well with much less peak bandwidth than most file servers
provide.
(d) For instrumentmonitoringwe dont care about latency or jitter. If data were
continually generated, rather than bursty, we might be concerned mostly with
average bandwidth rather than peak, and if the data really were routine we might
just accept a certain fraction of loss.
(e) For voice we need guaranteed average bandwidth and bounds on latency and
jitter. Some lost data might be acceptable; e.g. resulting in minor dropouts many
seconds apart.
(f) For video we are primarily concerned with average bandwidth. For the simple
monitoring application here, relatively modest video of Exercise 28(b) might
suffice; we could even go to monochrome (1 bit/pixel), at which point
1601205frames/sec requires 12KB/sec. We could tolerate multisecond latency
delays; the primary restriction is that if the monitoring revealed a need for
intervention then we still have time to act. Considerable loss, even of entire
frames, would be acceptable.
(g) Full-scale television requires massive bandwidth. Latency, however, could be
hours. Jitter would be limited only by our capacity absorb the arrival time variations
by buffering. Some loss would be acceptable, but large losses would be visually
annoying.

13. Suppose Host A wants to send a large file to Host B. The path from Host A
to Host B has three links, of rates R1 = 500 kbps, R2=2Mbps, and R3 =
1Mbps.

a. Assuming no other traffic in the network, what is the throughput for

the file transfer?
Answer: The overall throughput of the path from A to B is limited by whatever the
slowest portion is. (See section 1.4.4 of the textbook for a detailed discussion of
this concept). In this case link R1 is the slowest, so the throughput is 500 Kbps.
 b. Suppose the file is 4 million bytes. Dividing the file size by the
throughput, roughly how long will it take to transfer the file to Host B?

Answer: 4.000.000 bytes = 32.000.000 bits. 32 million bits / 500.000 bits/sec =

64 seconds. (If you thought that 500Kbps = 512.000 bytes/sec, then 32.000.000 /
512.000 = 62.5 seconds. If you didnt convert 4 million bytes to bits, then all the
answers would be divided by 8(8 seconds and 7.8125 seconds, respectively)).

c. Repeat (a) and (b), but now with R2 reduced to 100 kbps.
Answer: R2 is now the bottleneck, since it is the slowest of the three links. The
throughput will be 100Kbps, and it will take 32.000.000 / 100.000 = 320 seconds
to transmit the file (or 32.000.000 / 102.400 = 312.5s if you thought 100
Kbps=102.400 bytes/second). If you didnt convert 4 million bytes to bits, then all
the answers would be divided by 8 (40 s and 39.0625 s, respectively.)

14. Suppose two hosts, A and B, are separated by 20.000 kilometers and are
connected by a direct link of R=2 Mbps. Suppose the propagation speed
over the link is 2.5*108 meters/sec.

a. Calculate the bandwidth-delay product, R*dprop.

Answer: R dprop = 2106 2107/(2.5108) = 80,000 bits
b. Consider sending a file of 800.000 bits from Host A to Host B. Suppose
the file is sent continuously as one large message. What is the maximum
number of bits that will be in the link at any given time?

Answer: Dprop = 2107/(2.5108) = 0.08s < Dtrans = 8106/2106 = 4s

The maximum number of bits that will be in the link = 0.08 2106 = 16 104
bits

c. Provide an interpretation of the bandwidth-delay product.

Answer: Rdprop is the maximum number of bits in the link.

d. What is the width (in meters) of a bit in the link? Is it longer than a
football field?

Answer: Width of a bit = 2107 / (16104) = 125m

The length of a football field is in range from 90m to 120m
So the width of a bit in this case is longer than the length a football field.

e. Derive a general expression for the width of a bit in terms of the

propagation speed s, the transmission rate R, and the length of the link
m.

Answer: The width of a bit = m/(bit no in the link)

Where bit no in the link = Rdprop
dprop = m/s, so the width of a bit = s/R