MONROE - open, European-scale mobile broadband measurement platform - abstract and introduction

Aug 28, 2026

Uploaded by Levi

There is a strong demand for objective, end-user–relevant data on Mobile Broadband (MBB) network stability and performance, supported by rigorous scientific assessment tools. The MONROE platform is introduced to enable accurate, realistic monitoring and evaluation of operational 3G/4G networks. MONROE 1 offers flexible, open European-scale multi-homing capabilities and WiFi connectivity, enabling experiments across different access technologies and combined modes to improve performance and robustness.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

The MONROE Platform

MONROE: Measuring Mobile Broadband Networks in Europe Özgü Alay 1 , Andra Lutu 1 , David Ros 1 , Rafael Garcia2 , Vincenzo Mancuso2 Audun Fosselie Hansen3 , Anna Brunstrom4 , Marco Ajmone Marsan2 ;5 and Hakon Lonsethagen6 1 Simula Research Laboratory, Norway 2 IMDEA Networks Institute, Spain 3 Celerway Communications, Norway 4 Karlstad University, Sweden 5 Politecnico di Torino, Italy 6 Telenor Research, Norway ABSTRACT There is a strong need for objective data about stability and performance of Mobile Broadband (MBB) networks, and for tools to rigorously and scientiﬁcally assess their performance. In particular, it is important to measure and understand the quality as experienced by the end user. Such information is very valuable for many parties including operators, regulators and policy makers, consumers and society at large, businesses whose services depend on MBB networks, researchers and innovators. In this paper, we introduce the MONROE measurement platform aimed to address this need. MONROE 1 is an open, European-scale, and ﬂexible platform with multi-homing capabilities to run experiments on operational 3G/4G Mobile Broadband networks. The MONROE platform enables accurate, realistic and meaningful monitoring and assessment of the performance of MBB networks. MONROE also provides WiFi connectivity mimicking multi-homing in smartphones with both MBB and WiFi interfaces, to allow experimenting on different access technologies as well as to explore new ways of combining them to increase performance and robustness. 1. INTRODUCTION Mobile broadband (MBB) networks underpin numerous vital operations of modern society and are arguably becoming the most important piece of the world's communications infrastructure. The use of MBB networks has exploded over the last few years due to the immense popularity of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, combined with the availability of high-capacity 1 MONROE is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 644399. The MONROE platform is currently being developed by a consortium of European academic and industrial partners and the 􀀌rst version of the platform will be operational in March 2016 . For more information, please visit [https://www.monroe-project.eu/](https://www.monroe-project.eu/) 3G/4G mobile networks. According to Cisco's Global Mobile Data Tra􀀎c Forecast [1], the number of mobile devices in 2014 grew to a total of 7.4 billion, exceeding the world's population. Mobile data tra􀀎c grew 69% in 2014 and is expected to grow almost tenfold by 2019. Given the importance of MBB networks, thereis a strong need for objective information about their performance and reliability. During the past few years, there has been a growing interest from regulators, policy makers and the networking community on measuring the performance of home and mobile broadband networks. Several regulators have translated this into ongoing nationwide efforts, for example, the FCC's Measuring Broadband America initiative [2] in the USA. Assessing the quality experienced by end users requires foremost thorough systematic end-to-end measurements. There are several possible approaches to performing systematic measurements of MBB performance. Operators and independent agencies sometimes perform drive-by tests to identify coverage holes or performance problems. These tests are, however, expensive and do not scale well [10] . Another approach is to rely on end users to run performance tests by visiting a website [7] or running a special measurement application [4] . The main advantage of this approach is scalability: it can collect millions of measurements from di􀀋erent regions, networks and user equipment. However, with such an approach, repeatability is hard and one can only collect measurement data at users' own will, with no possibility to either monitor or control the measurement process. Furthermore, mostly due

FAQs

What problem does MONROE aim to solve in mobile broadband measurement?

MONROE addresses the need for objective, systematic data about MBB network stability and performance, especially the quality experienced by end users.

How does the MONROE platform differ from drive-by tests or user-run website/app measurements?

MONROE provides repeatable, long-duration end-to-end measurements with rich context and metadata, and supports controlled experiments rather than relying on users’ voluntary testing.

What capabilities does MONROE 1 provide for experiments on real networks?

MONROE 1 is an open, European-scale platform with multi-homing support for experiments on operational 3G/4G MBB networks, including WiFi connectivity to study different access technologies and combinations.

Aug 28, 2026

Uploaded by Levi