1 Investigating Internet Performance USF 2003 RET Program Tahvia Shaw

2 WHO AM I?

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4 Topics Introduction and Background Project Goals Internet Performance Internet Growth Measuring Internet Performance Taking it back to the classroom StudyWorks! ® Summary

5 Introduction and Background Internet performance is a hot issue in Computer Science. Why??? There are many factors that are being measured and investigated to determine the effectiveness of the Internet System. We can perform simple experiments in the middle school classroom.

6 Project Goals To have middle school students study real problems in the area of Computer Science. Spark an interest in mathematics and science. Learn basic Computer Science and understand the issues that are being researched. Develop basic Computer Science experiments for middle school students. Use a mathematics tool to analyze these experiments.

7 Internet Performance Factors of Internet performance include but are not limited to: –Geographic location –Connectivity –Network infrastructure and speed Internet performance is directly affected by the rate in which the Internet has grown. The more hosts on the Internet, the more traffic and congestion. FOR MORE INFO... Network wizards, Nielsen Net ratings,

8 Internet Growth Source: Internet Software consortium (

9 Transmitting information Packets (server to user) Host Server Source and Destination address Host Client Ethernet (cable, link) The client requests information from the server and the server sends the information back to the client in the form of packets. Packets can be lost or delayed.

10 Measuring Internet Performance The PING program sends a small packet of information to a specified computer, which then sends a reply back to your computer. Gives the RTT in milliseconds

11 Measuring Internet Performance Cont. The Tracert (Trace Route) program is a route-tracing tool that is used to determine the path a packets takes to reach a destination. USF Yahoo

12 Measuring Internet Performance Cont. We will use PING and Tracert to determine: –Latency –Packet loss –Reachability

13 Latency Latency aka Delay – The round trip delay time between the time the host sends a packet to the destination and the timethe host receives a response packet.

14 Packet loss Packet loss – A measure of measurement packets sent to a destination that do not produce corresponding return packets; those missing packets are lost packets. Packet loss can measure the effectiveness of a particular website on the Internet. Some of the factors that effect the packet loss are: –Size of packet ( in bytes) –Time of day –Internet congestion

15 Packet loss cont. FOR MORE INFO...

16 Reachability Reachability – If the host responds to at least one of the measurement packets.

17 Taking it to the classroom We can isolate those three measures of internet performance and create activities and experiments that middle school students will understand. We can use internet delay as our factor and investigate internet performance by using tools such as PING and Trace routes to measure latency, packet loss and reachability and draw conclusions on how they effect the internet. FOR MORE INFO... Lessons will be available soon on USF’s website as well as TCS’s website.

18 Taking it to the classroom Students will investigate Internet performance by testing causes of delay. –Compare geographic distance to PING RTT. We will PING cities around the world. (see lesson plan for IP addresses) –Compare packet size to PING RTT. –Students will use Tracert to troubleshoot when packets are lost to determine where a packet stopped.

19 Taking it to the classroom

20 Taking it to the classroom cont. Students will be introduced to current ongoing research on computer science issues that effects them personally. Students will learn how information is transported on the Internet and how effective or reliable the Internet is in responding and delivering the information. Students will learn how to collect raw data, plot graphs and analyze the data.

21 StudyWorks ® StudyWorks is a math resource tool based off MathCAD. Students will use this program to create graphs and analyze data. Teachers can also create worksheets and problems for students to solve in StudyWorks.

22 StudyWorks® Example

23 Conclusion Interesting topic for students and myself. Many mathematic concepts from graphing to percents. Basic computer science skills from using the command screen to performing PINGS. Understanding how information travels on the internet. Understanding efficiency.

24 Resources Network Wizards The Center for Next Generation Internet

25 Acknowledgements Thank you Dr. Kenneth Christensen for the opportunity to participate in this program. I would also like to thank Dr. Carlos Smith and the USF sponsored RET Program for allowing me to join their group.