Utilizing Crowd Sourced Analytics for Building Smarter Mobile Infrastructure and Achieving Better Quality of Experience

Date

2016-01-04

Authors

Yarish, David

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Abstract

There is great power in knowledge. Having insight into and predicting network events can be both informative and profitable. This thesis aims to assess how crowd-sourced network data collected on smartphones can be used to improve the quality of experience for users of the network and give network operators insight into how the networks infrastructure can also be improved. Over the course of a year, data has been collected and processed to show where networks have been performing well and where they are under-performing. The results of this collection aim to show that there is value in the collection of this data, and that this data cannot be adequately obtained without a device side presence. The various graphs and histograms demonstrate that the quantities of measurements and speeds recorded vary by both the location and time of day. It is these variations that cannot be determined via traditional network-side measurements. During the course of this experiment, it was observed that certain times of day have much greater numbers of people using the network and it is likely that the quantities of users on the network are correlated with the speeds observed at those times. Places of gathering such as malls and public areas had a higher user density, especially around noon which could is a normal time when people would take a break from the work day. Knowing exactly where and when an Access Point (AP) is utilized is important information when trying to identify how users are utilizing the network.

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Keywords

Analytics, Quality of Experience, Networks, Network Infrastructure, Crowd-Source, Mobile, Big Data, Smartphone, Data Probe

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