ICISIE Invited Talk:
The Fractal Nature of Internet Traffic?
Dr Maaruf Ali AKC
(PhD CEng MIET MIAENG MACM SMIEEE FHEA FASDF)
Senior Lecturer in Telecommunications Engineering and Media Technology
Oxford Brookes University
Department of Computing & Communication Technologies
Faculty of Technology, Design & Environment
Wheatley Campus, United Kingdom
Email: mali@brookes.ac.uk
Abstract:
On casual observance of internet traffic, it would appear to be a stochastic process.
However, observed over extended periods of time, the flow of internet traffic
appears to have self-similar structure, with repeating patterns at different scales in
time. The branch of fractal mathematics best appears to model such behaviour. This
talk will look into the fractal nature of internet traffic and how it can be modelled and
analysed. The benefits of accurate modelling will be explained as well as reasons
offered as to why internet traffic behaves in the way that it does. By having an
accurate model of the internet traffic, the network engineer can then design a more
efficient and cost effective internet - minimising traffic bottlenecks for example.