Evaluation Procedure for QoS of Short Message Service : International SMS Route Analysis

Sammanfattning: Due to its ubiquitous availability, Short Message Service (SMS), first introduced in the 1980s, became not only the most popular way of communication, but also stimulated the development of SMS-based value added services. This application-to-person traffic is delivered to end users through SMS aggregators who provide the link between service providers and mobile carriers. In order to perform optimal traffic routing, the aggregators need to estimate the quality of each potential international route to the specified destination. The evaluation criteria include end-to-end delivery time, as well as correct verification of delivered data. This thesis suggests a method of quality of service (QoS) assessment for international SMS service which combines two types of tests, end-to-end delay measurements and various verification tests. A prototype of the testing system for international SMS service was developed to generate SMS traffic, collect and analyze results, and evaluate the experienced QoS of the SMS route used in accordance with the proposed approach. As a part of end-to- end delay measurement tests, SMS traffic was sent to Singtel network in Singapore along two routes. The verification tests were executed via different routes to two mobile networks: Singtel and Tele2 (Sweden). The results of the performed measurements determined the route with the highest QoS, i.e. the one with bigger bottleneck bandwidth and lower data loss rate. The prototype of the SMS testing system can be used by SMS aggregators to verify delivery of a SMS message, check the integrity of the message, figure out interconnection type of the route supplier with the destination carrier and to identify the presence of load balancers in the path. The prototype also makes it possible to compare end-to-end delay times of several routes and compute bottleneck values for each of the tested routes.