Solution Assignment 1

1. How long does it take a packet of length 4,000 bytes to propagate over a link of distance 3,600
km, propagation speed 1.5x108 m/s, and transmission rate 2 Mbps? Also calculate transmission
delay for this link? More generally, how long does it take a packet of length L to propagate over a
link of distance d, propagation speed s, and transmission rate Rbps? Does this delay depend on
packet length? Does this delay depend on transmission rate?

File size: 4000 bytes = 32000 bits, distance = 3600km, propagation speed = 1.5x108 m/s,
Rate(R) = 2Mbps
𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 3600×103
Propagation Delay = 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑
= 1.5×108
= 24 × 10−3 = 24𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑐

𝐿(𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑠) 32000

Transmission Delay = = = 16 × 10−3 = 16𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑐
𝑅(𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒) 2×106

𝐷(𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒)
General Equation for propagation delay =
𝑠(𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑)

No, the delay doesn’t depend on the transmission rate or packet length.

2. Define throughput? Explain briefly what is the difference between throughput and bandwidth?
The path from Host A to Host B has three links, of rates R1 = 500 kbps, R2 = 2 Mbps, and
R3 = 1 Mbps.
i. Assuming no other traffic in the network, what is the throughput for the file transfer?

Throughput: Rate at which bits transferred between sender and receiver. It is usually represented
as an average and measured in bits per second (bps). Throughput is an important indicator of the
performance and quality of the internet connection. A high value of unsuccessful message
delivery will ultimately lead to lower throughput and degraded performance.

Throughput Bandwidth

Data that actually travels through a Maximum amount of data that can
channel travel through a channel.
(Theoretical value )

Throughput for file transfer = min {R1, R2, R3} = min {500kbps, 2Mbps, 1Mbps} = 500kbps
3. Describe in your own words how the traceroute program works to retrieve network information
between the sender and the remote host?

The traceroute command is used to discover the routes that packets actually take when travelling
to their destination. The device (for example, a router or a PC) sends out a sequence of TCP
segments to an invalid port address at the remote host. Three TCP segments are sent with TTL
(Time to Live) values set to 1 in their IP datagram headers. The TTL value of 1 causes the IP
datagram to be dropped by the first router in the path; this router then responds with an ICMP
Time Exceeded Message (TEM) message to the source indicating that the datagram life has
expired. Source receives three such messages and computes average delays, etc.
Another set of three TCP segment is now sent, with TTL values set to 2, which causes the second
router to return ICMP (TEMs). The process continues until the packets actually reach the
destination. Since these segments are trying to access an invalid port at the destination host,
ICMP Port Unreachable Messages are returned, indicating an unreachable port; this event signals
the traceroute program that it is finished.

4. What is the difference between packet switching and circuit switching? Explain why statistical
multiplexing is a good choice for the Internet?

Circuit Switching Packet Switching

Resources along the path reserved during the Resources allocated on demand
transmission e.g. Telephone Network

Guaranteed service Best effort service

Bandwidth not utilized properly. Fixed slots. Efficient use of bandwidth

Designed for voice communication Designed for data communication

Internet generates bursty data traffic. So traditional circuit switching multiplexing

techniques are not suitable for that type of traffic while it is hard to predict when the user
will start sending data. Statistical Multiplexing is the right choice for internet as it allows
the bandwidth to be divided arbitrarily among a variable number of channels, while the
number of channels and the channel data rates are fixed in TDM. Statistical multiplexing
can potentially service a larger number of simultaneous users and also may provide larger
bandwidth to individual connections compared to TDM.

5. List down major P2P applications using a table. Also explain why P2P based networks are
easier to scale as compared to client-server based networks?

P2P Network Types Examples

File sharing networks Gnutella, G2, eDonkey
Multimedia P2PTV, PDTP, Spotify
Other Tradepal, Bitcoin, I2P
 Peer 2 Peer networks are self-scalable. They do not require dedicated servers or data centers to
extend their services. In P2P networks peers request services from other peers, and also provide
services. New peers that join the network help extend the services of the network.

6. Considering the TCP/IP model, explain the drawbacks of using a layered architecture in the
Internet?

The higher layers can’t see or know the functionality of the lower layers, implying that an
application can’t debug where in a connection a problem is, or exactly what the problem is.
Higher level layers can’t control all aspects of lower layers, so they can’t modify the transfer
system if beneficial. They must rely on lower protocols working, and can’t specify
alternatives when there’s a problem. The other major disadvantage is overhead both in
computation and in message headers due to abstraction barriers between layers.