Understanding the characteristics of cellular data traffic

Because of rapidly growing subscriber populations, advances in cellular communication technology, increasingly capable user terminals, and the expanding range of mobile applications, cellular networks have experienced a significant increase in data traffic, the dominant part of which is carried by the http protocol. Understanding the characteristics of this traffic is important for network design, traffic modeling, resource planning and network control. In this study we present a comprehensive characterization study of mobile http-based traffic using packet level traces collected in a large cellular network. We analyze the traffic using metrics at packet level, flow level and session level. For each metric, we conduct a comparison between traffic from different applications, as well as comparison to traffic in a wired network. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for better resource utilization in cellular infrastructures.