Solutions for faster internet

All internet users have at some time or another complained about slow surfing speeds or a tiresome wait for a video to load. A group of European engineers from Spain, Hungary and Sweden decided to try to counter such problems by monitoring traffic and tailoring services to meet demand. A number of leading communication companies have already taken up the newly developed methodology used for traffic measurements. EUREKA, the European platform for research and development (R&D) funding, supported the research study.

The Internet is a complex 'beast', made up of different networks that are managed by various service providers, who manage the data being sent and monitor the amount of traffic being used. When the data traffic on a network is too dense bottlenecks can occur, slowing the delivery of information to a computer and resulting in a slower internet experience.

The TRAMMS ('Traffic measurements and models in multi-service networks') project tried to solve this problem using experiences gained after monitoring internet networks in Spain and Sweden over a three-year period. This gave them an excellent insight into user behaviour, enabling them to accurately measure network traffic so that in the future service providers will know how much capacity is needed and can avoid any jams.

The research team pointed out that the project was successful because, contrary to the norm, they were allowed access to very sensitive data on internet traffic measurements. 'Internet traffic measurements are very difficult to find if you are not an operator,' said Andreas Aurelius, coordinator of the project and senior scientist at Swedish R&D company Acreo, one of the project partners.

News source: CORDIS link: article