Simple Approximations of Delay Distributions and Their Application to Network Modeling

Abstract

This paper presents a simple approximation to the delay distributions commonly used in traffic engineering and network planning. A key advantage of the approximation is its ability to estimate end-to-end delay without requiring convolutions or Laplace transforms. Two example applications to network planning are given: first, directly to the estimation of percentiles of end-to-end delay from component subnetwork measurements, and second, to network element characterization for computing delays in signaling or other systems that exhibit complex multiple message exchanges. A consideration of the accuracy of the method is included for both examples.