In today’s digital age, understanding internet performance is crucial where our lives are increasingly intertwined with the digital realm, the performance and reliability of internet connections have never been more critical. Whether it’s for remote work, online education, or streaming entertainment, a seamless internet experience is essential. However, the complexities of the internet can often lead to frustrating slowdowns and connectivity . This is where internet measurement comes into play. By measuring these metrics, users can gain valuable insights into their internet connection and troubleshoot issues effectively. Our platform leverages a network of Raspberry Pi devices, referred to as “anchors,” distributed across India to perform these measurements. In this blog, I will share my journey in developing an internet research network platform that enables users, researchers to gain a deeper understanding of their internet performance by measuring key internet metrics such as ping, DNS queries, and traceroute.
The process of collecting data on how well the internet is functioning, which can include metrics such as latency, bandwidth, packet loss, throughput and DNS resolution times. These measurements are crucial for understanding the health of internet connectivity and reliability
Common Metrics
The goal of internet measurement is to improve the overall user experience i.e why understanding these measurements is vital.
By analyzing the measurement data of latency, DNS resolution times, and routing paths, users can pinpoint where problems are occurring. For instance, if latency is unusually high, it may indicate network congestion or issues with the service provider hence diagnosing connectivity issues and Performance optimization.
At the heart of our Internet Measurement Platform are the Raspberry Pi devices, which we call anchors. These anchors are strategically placed in various locations across India to provide a comprehensive view of internet performance. Each anchor acts as a measurement point, allowing us to gather data from different geographical areas.
Through our platform, users can initiate specific commands to the anchors. These commands include:
Once the measurements are taken, the data is collected and analyzed. Our platform presents this information in a user-friendly interface, allowing users to visualize their internet performance metrics. This data can be invaluable for troubleshooting connectivity issues, optimizing network performance, and making informed decisions about internet service providers.
Moreover, researchers and students can conduct network analysis assessments using our platform by executing commands from various anchors. They require a system that allows them to tag specific measurement commands according to each assignment. This enables them to perform their project work effectively, to execute these commands, collect relevant data, and generate reports in various formats (e.g., .csv, .pdf, .png, .json).
Recently in our current system we have implemented a new feature that allows faculty members to design and assign research-based projects, ensuring students can easily execute tasks, gather data, and generate the required format reports. For that faculty can enroll students, manage assignments based on projects and also can track each student’s project activity by accessing the list of executed commands through their dashboard.
In conclusion, our measurement platform offers a comprehensive solution for conducting internet performance tests and network analysis assessments. With the ability to execute commands from multiple anchors, researchers and students can gather valuable data to enhance their project work. We invite you to explore the platform https://v2.aiori.in/, try out its features, and share your experiences with us.
