Marcel Dischinger

I was a doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems and graduated in October 2010. My advisor is Krishna Gummadi. I received my diploma in computer science from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany in 2005.

Research

My research interests span the areas of networking and distributed systems. In particular, I am interested in the measurement, analysis, and design of Internet-scale networked systems.
My recent work focuses on making the Internet more transparent to users and researchers. As part of the Glasnost project, I am building easy to use online tools, e.g., to detect whether an ISP blocks BitTorrent traffic. Furthermore, by developing novel measurement tools I was able to study Internet edge networks, such as DSL, cable, and cellular broadband networks, which configuration and characteristics were not well-studied before, at large scale.
In a related project, I work on building new testbed infrastructures to help researchers evaluate their designs in heterogeneous network environments. And I am also working on new network architectures to deliver bulk content (e.g., DVDs, online backups) over the Internet cheaply and more efficiently.
Previously, I was working in the area of mobile ad-hoc and P2P networks.

Projects

Glasnost: Bringing Transparency to the Internet [webpage] [paper]
To improve network transparency, we are building easy to use online tools, for example a tool that can detect blocking of BitTorrent traffic by ISPs.

SatelliteLab [webpage] [paper]
SatelliteLab is a new Internet testbed design that allows all sorts of end nodes to join the testbed, e.g., home machines, wireless hosts, PDAs, and cell-phones.

Characterizing Residential Broadband Networks [webpage] [paper]
This work presents the first large-scale study of residential broadband networks and shows that they differ significantly from academic networks.

Monarch [webpage] [paper]
Monarch is a tool that accurately emulates transport protocol flows from an end host under the experimenter's control to any other end host that responds to simple TCP, UDP or ICMP packet probes.

Publications

Conference

The Local and Global Effects of Traffic Shaping in the Internet [pdf] [BibTeX]
Massimiliano Marcon, Marcel Dischinger, Krishna P. Gummadi, and Amin Vahdat
In Proceedings of the Third Conference on Communication Systems and Networks (COMSNETS), Bangalore, India, January 2011

Glasnost: Enabling End Users to Detect Traffic Differentiation [pdf] [BibTeX] [slides odf]
Marcel Dischinger, Massimiliano Marcon, Saikat Guha, Krishna P. Gummadi, Ratul Mahajan, and Stefan Saroiu
In Proceedings of the USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation (NSDI), San Jose, CA, USA, April 2010

Detecting BitTorrent Blocking [pdf] [BibTeX] [slides odf]
Marcel Dischinger, Alan Mislove, Andreas Haeberlen, and Krishna P. Gummadi
In Proceedings of the Internet Measurement Conference 2008, Vouliagmeni, Greece, October 2008

SatelliteLab: Adding Heterogeneity to Planetary-Scale Testbeds [pdf] [BibTeX]
Marcel Dischinger, Andreas Haeberlen, Ivan Beschastnikh, Krishna P. Gummadi, and Stefan Saroiu
In Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM Conference 2008, Seattle, WA, USA, August 2008

Characterizing Residential Broadband Networks [pdf] [BibTeX] [slides ppt]
Marcel Dischinger, Andreas Haeberlen, Krishna P. Gummadi, and Stefan Saroiu
In Proceedings of the Internet Measurement Conference 2007, San Diego, CA, USA, October 2007

Monarch: A Tool to Emulate Transport Protocol Flows over the Internet at Large [pdf] [BibTeX]
Andreas Haeberlen, Marcel Dischinger, Krishna P. Gummadi, and Stefan Saroiu
In Proceedings of the Internet Measurement Conference 2006, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 2006

Poster

The Local and Global Effects of Traffic Shaping in the Internet [abstract] [pdf]
Massimiliano Marcon, Marcel Dischinger, Krishna P. Gummadi, and Amin Vahdat
Poster at ACM SIGCOMM Conference 2008, Seattle, WA, USA, August 2008

Anonymity in the Personalized Web [pdf]
Nuno Santos, Alan Mislove, Marcel Dischinger, and Krishna P. Gummadi
Poster at NSDI 2008, San Francisco, CA, USA, April 2008

SatelliteLab: Adding Heterogeneity to Planetary-Scale Testbeds [pdf]
Andreas Haeberlen, Marcel Dischinger, Ivan Beschastnikh, and Krishna P. Gummadi
Poster at SOSP 2007, Stevenson, WA, USA, October 2007

Residential Broadband Networks: Characteristics and Implications [pdf]
Marcel Dischinger, Andreas Haeberlen, Krishna P. Gummadi, and Stefan Saroiu
Poster at NSDI 2007, Cambridge, MA, USA, April 2007

Thesis

Making Broadband Access Networks Transparent to Researchers, Developers, and Users [pdf]
Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, October 2010
PhD Thesis. Advisor: Krishna P. Gummadi

Mobility Enhancements to an Approach for Structured Overlay Routing in Wireless Mobile Ad Hoc Networks [pdf]
System Architecture Group, University of Karlsruhe, 24. November, 2005
Diploma Thesis. Advisors: Prof. Dr. Frank Bellosa, Curt Cramer

Press Coverage

Putting the Brakes on Web-Surfing Speeds [web]
Kevin J. O'Brien, The New York Times, November 14th, 2011

Glasnost im Internet [pdf] [web] (German)
Max Planck Forschung - Das Wissenschaftsmagazin der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Heft Spezial "Innovation", 2009

Google begins effort to find Internet blockers [web]
Kim Dixon, Reuters, Jan 28, 2009

Study: Cox, Comcast Internet subscribers blocked [web]
Peter Svensson, Associated Press, May 15, 2008

Contact