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Title: Rigorous Evaluation of Performance and Policy Impacts of Transport Protocols and In-Network Devices

Speaker: Arash Molavi Kakhki, PhD Candidate, College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University

Location: Northeastern University, 805 Columbus Avenue, Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC), 1st Floor, Room #142, Boston, Massachusetts 02120

Abstract

Popularity of resource-hungry applications is at record high and increasing, creating a data consumption boom that is growing at an exponential rate.  As a result, resource- constrained networks need to keep up with an exploding demand for data and bandwidth, while guaranteeing accessibility, reliability, and speed to maintain a satisfactory level of end-to-end performance for all users and applications.  To achieve this goal, much effort is put into optimizing for network performance, including optimizations at the application level to adapt to network conditions, introduction of new transport protocols that better fit modern applications’ requirements, and in-network management techniques by network operators for better handling the traffic load.  However, many of aforesaid solutions do not go through sufficient evaluation, resulting in poor understanding of their implications and how they interact with other optimization efforts.  This can cause gaps between intended and actual performance of applications across a range of environments.  Moreover, some of these approaches disrupt Internet’s openness and neutrality.  Further frustrating such situations is the lack of visibility into networks, making it very difficult (or impossible) to pinpoint the root causes of poor performance or detect open Internet violations.

This thesis posits that an effective way to address these issues is to create frameworks and tools for rigorous evaluation of approaches for optimizing network performance.  By building such tools, we can detect instances of inconsistency between intended and actual network behaviors, diagnose the root causes, and help fix them.  Given the above hypothesis, in this work Arash will first introduce a framework for rigorous evaluation of rapidly evolving transport protocols.  Using this framework, he will conduct a comprehensive study on QUIC protocol in a wide range of network conditions and environments.  In his evaluations, he examines the protocol’s fairness, perform head-to-head comparisons with TCP, investigate the effectiveness of in-network proxies on performance, and reason about observed weaknesses and strengths through code instrumentation and inferred state machines.

Next, Arash will present a record-and-replay framework that utilizes the native VPN support of modern operating systems to record and replay traffic from arbitrary applications. Through two measurement studies on traffic differentiation and a zero-rating service by a US operator, he will demonstrate how his record-and-replay tool can be used for revealing application-specific in-network policies and shedding light on their implications.  His approach for detecting traffic differentiation addresses limitations of prior work by proposing a more accurate statistical test, validating the methodology using real shaping boxes, and enabling testing of arbitrary applications directly from users’ computer or mobile device.  His evaluation of a number of mobile ISPs revealed instances of differential policies.

Finally, Arash will investigated Binge On, a zero-rating service offered by T-Mobile USA, both to characterize its impact on performance as well as understand how the policy is implemented.  He discovered a variety of behaviors that have important implications for subscribers, and demonstrate that Binge On’s current simple implementation is brittle, potentially inaccurate, and easily subverted to free-ride on T-Mobile.

About the Speaker

Arash Molavi Kakhki is a PhD student in the Computer Science program at Northeastern University’s College of Computer and Information Science, advised by Professors Alan Mislove and David Choffnes.  His research interest broadly lies in the areas of networking, network measurements, and online privacy.  For more information about Arash’s background and research check out his personal website.

Committee

Professor David Choffnes, Assistant Professor, College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University (Advisor)
Professor Alan Mislove, Associate Professor, Associate Dean and Director of Undergraduate Programs, College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University (Advisor)
Professor Cristina Nita-Rotaru, Professor, College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University
Professor Phillipa Gill, Assistant Professor, College of Computer and Information Science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst

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