Multi-Scale Internet Traffic Analysis Using Piecewise Self-Similar Processes

Numerous studies have shown that scaling exponents of internet traffic change over time or scaling ranges. In order to analyze long-range dependent traffic with changing scaling exponents over time scales, we propose a multi-scale traffic model that incorporates the notion of a piecewise self-similar process, a process with spectral changes on its scaling behavior. We can obtain a performance curve smoothened over the range of queue length corresponding to time scales with different scaling exponents by adopting multiple self-similar processes piecewise into different spectra of time scale. The analytical method for the multiscale fractional Brownian motion is discussed as a model for this approach. A comparison of the analytical and simulation results, using traffic data obtained from backbone networks, shows that our model provides a good approximation for Gaussian traffic. key words: piecewise self-similar, long-range dependence, multi-scale, fractional Brownian motion, traffic modeling