Method for devices in a network to participate in an end-to-end measurement of latency

A method of determining a one-way latency of a network path in a communication network having at least a first and a second segments with minimal overhead, the method comprising;

• generating, at a first communication device, a test packet including a first and second timestamp indicative of a first time the test packet is transmitted to a second communication device;
• computing a first path latency at the second communication device upon reception of the test packet based on a first time of reception of the test packet and the first timestamp;
• replacing the second timestamp with a second time the test packet is transmitted to a third communication device;
• computing a one-way latency of the network path at the third communication device upon reception of the test packet based on a second time of reception of the test packet at the third communication device and the first timestamp;
• computing a second path latency at the third communication device based on the second time of reception of the packet and the second timestamp.

An apparatus for determining a one-way latency of a path in a communication network, having at least a first and second segments:

• a first network device at the first end of the first path generating and transmitting a test packet including a first and second timestamp indicative of the time the packet is transmitted to a second device;
• the second network device receiving the test packet and computing a first path latency based on a first reception time of the test packet and the first timestamp in the test packet;
• the second network device replaces the second timestamp with a second time indicative of the time the packet is transmitted to a third network device;
• the second network device transmitting the test packet to a third network;
• the third network device receiving the test packet and computing the one-way latency of the path based on a second reception time and the first timestamp and computing and storing the one-way latency of the segment based on a second reception time and the second timestamp.