Network Traffic Analysis Framework for E-Sports: The UPSIDE Dataset

With the ever-growing popularity and attendance of e-Sports competitions, the design of the network architectures which support these events has never been of such importance. Choosing the right dimensions and capabilities of networks has been more of a guessing game throughout the years, rather than a systematic approach to determining the right size, without over or under-provisioning the necessary resources. In time-limited events (physical game competitions, game events), ad-hoc network infrastructures often have technical and/or performance issues. Moreover, such temporary connections rarely integrate security countermeasures and/or are subject to security assessment. This preliminary paper aims to introduce a framework, based on real-world historical data that enables domain experts to stress test their designed networks and perform more precise and detailed capacity planning. To address this challenge, we collected and analysed real-world data from the UPSIDE event held in Naples on June 28–29, 2024. By capturing and examining all traffic on the event’s network architecture, we developed a systematic framework for guiding network professionals in designing efficient and scalable infrastructures for future festivals and conventions. The data collected have been packaged in a data set that can be replicated in a modular and scalable fashion on networks to test their reliability and resiliency on different traffic scales.