Paper Info
Title
The Role of PASTA in Network Measurement
Abstract
Poisson Arrivals See Time Averages (PASTA) is a well known property applicable to many stochastic systems. In active probing, PASTA is invoked to justify the sending of probe packets (or trains) at Poisson times in a variety of contexts. However, due to the di- versity of aims and analysis techniques used in active probing, the benefits of Poisson based measurement, and the utility and role of PASTA, are unclear. Using a combination of rigorous results and carefully constructed examples and counter-examples, we map out the issues involved, and argue that PASTA is of very limited use in active probing. In particular, Poisson probes are not unique in their ability to sample without bias. Furthermore, PASTA ignores the issue of estimation variance, and the central need for an inversion phase to estimate the quantity of interest based on what is directly observable. We give concrete examples of when Poisson probes should not be used, and explain why, and offer initial guidelines on suitable alternative sending processes.
Year
DOI
Venue
2006
10.1109/TNET.2008.2011129
IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking
Keywords
Field
DocType
stochastic processes,Poisson arrivals see time averages,Poisson-based measurement,network measurement,stochastic systems,Active probing,Nonintrusive Mixing Arrivals See Time Averages (NIMASTA),Poisson Arrivals See Time Averages (PASTA),network measurement
Observable,Active measurement,Network measurement,Computer science,Inversion (meteorology),Network packet,Algorithm,Poisson distribution,Train,Distributed computing
Conference
Volume
Issue
ISSN
17
4
1063-6692
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
45
2.81
15
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
François Baccelli14543347.87
Sridhar Machiraju243537.08
Darryl Veitch390384.47
Jean-Chrysostome Bolot41522341.89