Exercises 1) What advantage does a circuitswitched network have over a packet-switched network?

Answer: A circuit-switched network can guarantee a certain amount of end-to-end bandwidth for the duration of a call. Most packet-switched networks today (including the Internet) cannot make any end-to-end guarantees for bandwidth.

2) Consider an application that transmits data at a steady rate (for example, the sender generates an Nbit unit of data every k time units, where k is small and fixed). Also, when such an application starts, it will continue running for a relatively long period of time. Would a packet-switched network or a circuit-switched network be more appropriate for this application? Why?

Answer: A circuit-switched network would be better in this case, because the application involves long sessions with predictable bandwidth requirements. Since the transmission rate is fixed and known, bandwidth can be reserved for each communication. In addition, there are no overhead costs for setting up and tearing down a circuit connection.

3) Consider two hosts, Hosts A and B, connected by a single link of rate R bps. Suppose that the two hosts are separted by m meters, and suppose the propagation speed along the link is s meters/sec. Host A is to send a packet of size L bits to Host B.

a) Express the propagation delay, d prop in terms of m and s . Answer: dprop = m/s b) Determine the transmission time of the packet, d trans in terms of L and R . Answer: dtrans = L/R

c) Ignoring processing and queing delays, obtain an expression for the end-to-end delay. Answer: m/s + L/R

d) Suppose Host A begins to transmit the packet at time t=0 . At time t=d trans , where is the last bit of the packet? Answer: the bit is just leaving node A

e) Suppose d prop is greater than d trans . At time t=d trans , where is the first bit of the packet? Answer: the first bit is in the link (it has not reached B yet)

f)) Suppose d prop is less than d trans . At time t=d trans , where is the first bit of the packet?

Answer: the first bit has reached B

g) Suppose s=2.5*10 8 , L=100 bits and R=28 kbps. Find the distance m so that d prop equals d trans Answer: m = LR/S = 893 Km

4) Consider sending a large file of F bits from Host A to Host B. There are two links and one node between A and B. Neglect propagation delays and queueing delays. Host A segments the file into segments of S bits each. Assume that F/S is an integer. Host A adds h bits of header to each segment forming packets of size h+S each. Each link has a transmission rate of R bps. Find the end-to-end delay in sending the file.

Answer: 2*(h+S)/R + ((F/S)1)*(h+S)/R = (h+S)/R * (2 + (F/S) 1) = (h+S)/R * ( (F/S) +1) seconds

5) Consider sending voice from host A to host B over a packetswitched network (for example, Internet phone). Host A converts analog voice to a digital 64 Kbps bit stream on the fly. Host A then groups the bits into 48-byte packets. There is one link between host A and B; its transmission rate is 1 Mbps and its propagation delay is 2 ms. As soon as host A gathers a packet, it sends it to host B. As soon as host B receives an entire packet, it converts the packet's bits to an analog signal. How much time elapses from the time a bit is created (from the original analog signal at host A) until the bit is decoded (as part of the analog signal at host B) Answer:

Before the first bit of a packet can be transmitted, all the other bits belonging to the same packet need to be generated. This requires: 48.8 / 64x10^3 = 6 ms The time to transmit this packet is: 48.8 / 10^6 = .384 ms The propagation delay is 2 ms Therefore, the delay until decoding is: 6ms + 0.384ms + 2ms = 8.384 ms