UDP benchmark support

[petrih479]

Hello,
Thread:CLI sample supports command ot tcp benchmark.

I would appreciate similar command supporting UDP, like ot udp benchmark.

I have tried include zperf in the build, but I don't get it work as expected. More closely, it doesn't succeed measure data throughput.

Best Regards,
Petri

[jwhui]

Have you consulted the Zephyr community regarding zperf?

When using OpenThread with a Linux host, you could use iPerf.

When using something like iperf to test network performance with UDP, you should understand its limitations. In particular, because UDP does not implement things like congestion control or flow control, you are basically measuring the network's ability to buffer messages.

[jchellap]

Hi @jwhui ,

Do we have any theoretical formula for UDP throughput for open thread? This is to understand what is the expected value for the given bandwidth and data length

[jwhui]

Unfortunately, I don't have anything readily available. Note that because Thread implements 6LoWPAN header compression, that the header overhead will depend on the nature of the traffic itself.

[petrih479]

Hello jwhui,
Yes, I tried to implement zperf in thread:cli sample, but couldn't get it work. One proposal from tech support was to create feature request which I did.
I want to do simple throughput test directly on console without need for external linux host.
Yes, I'm aware of the benefits of the UDP over TCP when measuring real data throughput on poor wireless links, i.e. no ping-ponging of packets due to non-acknowledged packet in TCP.
BR Petri

[jwhui]

Yes, I'm aware of the benefits of the UDP over TCP when measuring real data throughput on poor wireless links, i.e. no ping-ponging of packets due to non-acknowledged packet in TCP.

My point is that raw UDP throughput is not necessarily a useful metric.