Abstract: A novel approach to available bandwidth measurement based on the link status is proposed, which is different from the packet train method. The source sends small packets as probes instead of sending packet pair/train back-to-back to achieve the link status and the available bandwidth. This method can measure the capacity and idle ratio of the targeted link. Meanwhile, in order to resolve the influence of cross traffic, the "test stream" and "test level" are designed using the corresponding fields in the IPv6 basic header. This approach is verified through simulations.