Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Analysis of a Campus-Wide Wireless Network

  • Published:
Wireless Networks Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Understanding usage patterns in wireless local-area networks (WLANs) is critical for those who develop, deploy, and manage WLAN technology, as well as those who develop systems and application software for wireless networks. This paper presents results from the largest and most comprehensive trace of network activity in a large, production wireless LAN. For eleven weeks we traced the activity of nearly two thousand users drawn from a general campus population, using a campus-wide network of 476 access points spread over 161 buildings at Dartmouth College. Our study expands on those done by Tang and Baker, with a significantly larger and broader population.

We found that residential traffic dominated all other traffic, particularly in residences populated by newer students; students are increasingly choosing a wireless laptop as their primary computer. Although web protocols were the single largest component of traffic volume, network backup and file sharing contributed an unexpectedly large amount to the traffic. Although there was some roaming within a network session, we were surprised by the number of situations in which cards roamed excessively, unable to settle on one access point. Cross-subnet roams were an especial problem, because they broke IP connections, indicating the need for solutions that avoid or accommodate such roams.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. A. Adya, P. Bahl and L. Qiu, Characterizing alert and browse services for mobile clients, in: Proceedings of the 2002 USENIX Technical Conference, USENIX Association (2002) pp. 343–356.

  2. A. Balachandran, G.M. Voelker, P. Bahl and P.V. Rangan, Characterizing user behavior and network performance in a public wireless LAN, in: Proceedings of the 2002 ACM SIGMETRICS Conference on Measurement and Modeling of Computer Systems, Marina Del Rey, June 2002 (ACM Press, 2002) pp. 195–205.

  3. M. Balazinska and P. Castro, Characterizing mobility and network usage in a corporate wireless local-area network, in: Proceedings of the 2003 International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services (MobiSys) (USENIX Association, May 2003).

  4. B.J. Bennington and C.R. Bartel, Wireless Andrew: Experience building a high speed, campus-wide wireless data network, in: Proceedings of the 3rd Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (ACM Press, September 1997) pp. 55–65.

  5. R. Boggs and P. Arabasz, The move to wireless networking in higher education, Technical Report 7, Research Bulletin of the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (April 2002).

  6. J. Christy, Cisco Systems engineer, Personal communication, March 4 (2002).

  7. A. Hills, Wireless Andrew, IEEE Spectrum 36(6) (1999) 49–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. A. Hills and D.B. Johnson, Seamless access to multiple wireless data networks: A wireless data network infrastructure at Carnegie Mellon University, IEEE Personal Communications 3(1) (1996) 56–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. R. Hutchins and E.W. Zegura, Measurements from a campus wireless network, in: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Vol. 5 (IEEE Computer Society Press, New York, April 2002) pp. 3161–3167.

  10. D. Kotz and K. Essien, Characterizing usage of a campus-wide wireless network, Technical Report TR2002-423, Department of Computer Science, Dartmouth College (March 2002).

  11. T. Kunz, T. Barry, X. Zhou, J.P. Black and H.M. Mahoney, WAP traffic: Description and comparison to WWW traffic, in: Proceedings of the Workshop on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems (MSWiM 2000) (ACM Press, Boston, MA, August 2000) pp. 11–19.

  12. K. Lai, M. Roussopoulos, D. Tang, X. Zhao and M. Baker, Experiences with a mobile testbed, in: Worldwide Computing and Its Applications, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 1368 (Springer, 1998) pp. 222–237.

  13. C.E. Perkins, Mobile networking in the Internet, Mobile Networks and Applications 3(4) (1999) 319–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. S. Saroiu, K.P. Gummadi, R.J. Dunn, S.D. Gribble and H.M. Levy, An analysis of Internet content delivery systems, in: Proceedings of the 2002 Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (USENIX Association, Boston, MA, December 2002) pp. 315–328.

  15. P. Stern, Measuring early usage of Dartmouth’s wireless network, Senior Honors Thesis, Technical Report TR2001-393, Department of Computer Science, Dartmouth College (June 2001).

  16. D. Tang and M. Baker, Analysis of a metropolitan-area wireless network, in: Proceedings of the 5th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (ACM Press, August 1999) pp. 13–23.

  17. D. Tang and M. Baker, Analysis of a local-area wireless network, in: Proceedings of the 6th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (ACM Press, Boston, MA, August 2000) pp. 1–10.

  18. D. Tang and M. Baker, Analysis of a metropolitan-area wireless network, Wireless Networks 8(2–3) (2002) 107–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA

    David Kotz

  2. Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, 120 Hayden Hall, 3320 Smith Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Kobby Essien

Authors
  1. David Kotz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kobby Essien
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Kotz.

Additional information

This paper is revised and extended from our Mobicom’02 paper.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kotz, D., Essien, K. Analysis of a Campus-Wide Wireless Network. Wireless Netw 11, 115–133 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-004-4750-0

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-004-4750-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation