Scaling Properties of Network Traffic

Abstract

Key Terms in this Chapter

Multifractality: A generalization of self-similarity in which the small time-scale behaviour of the process shows local variations in the scaling parameter.

Heavy-Tailed Distribution: A statistical distribution with tails that decay subexponentially.

Hurst Parameter: A qualitative measure of selfsimilarity related to the scaling parameter a defined for long-range dependent processes.

Aggregation (of a time series): The action of averaging the time series over non-overlapping blocks of constant size.

Long-Range Dependence (also known as long memory): A property found in stochastic processes with strong low-frequency components.

Fractals: Objects (in particular, figures) that have the same appearance when they are seen on fine and coarse scales.

Self-Similarity: When applied to stochastic processes, it indicates that the process follows the same distribution on all time scales.