Myspeedtest: active and passive measurements of cellular data networks

As the number and diversity of applications available to mobile users increases, there is an increasing need for developers, network service providers, and users to understand how users perceive the network performance of these applications. MySpeedTest is a measurement tool that actively probes the network to determine not only TCP throughput and round trip time, but also the proximity to popular content providers, IP packet delay variation, and loss. It also records other metadata that could affect user experience, such as signal strength, service provider, connection type, battery state, device type, manufacturer, time of day, and location. The tool also takes passive measurements of the applications installed on the device and the network usage of these applications. My SpeedTest is available on the Google Play Store and currently has 1300+ active users. This thesis presents the design and implementation of MySpeedTest as well as effect of metrics like latency and IP packet delay variation on performance.MSCommittee Chair: Nick Feamster; Committee Member: Patrick Traynor; Committee Member: Raghupathy Sivakuma

Wireless Communication Options for a Mobile Ultrasound System

A mobile ultrasound system has been developed, which makes ultrasound examinations possible in harsh environments without reliable power sources, such as ambulances, helicopters, war zones, and disaster sites. The goal of this project was to analyze three different wireless communication technologies that could be integrated into the ultrasound system for possible utilization in remote data applications where medical information may be transmitted from the mobile unit to some centralized base station, such as an emergency room or field hospital. By incorporating wireless telecommunication technology into the design, on site medical personnel can be assisted in diagnostic decisions by remote medical experts. The wireless options that have been tested include the IEEE 802.11g standard, mobile broadband cards on a 3G cellular network, and a mobile satellite terminal. Each technology was tested in two phases. In the first phase, a client/server application was developed to measure and record general information about the quality of each link. Four different types of tests were developed to measure channel properties such as data rate, latency, inter-arrival jitter, and packet loss using various signal strengths, packet sizes, network protocols, and traffic loads. In the second phase of testing, the H.264 Scalable Video Codec (SVC) was used to transmit real-time ultrasound video streams over each of the wireless links to observe the image quality as well as the diagnostic value of the received video stream. The information gathered during both testing phases revealed the abilities and limitations of the different wireless technologies. The results from the performance testing will be valuable in the future for those trying to develop network applications for telemedicine procedures over these wireless telecommunication options. Additionally, the testing demonstrated that the system is currently capable of using H.264 SVC compression to transmit VGA quality ultrasound video at 30 frames per second (fps) over 802.11g while QVGA resolution at frame rates between 10 and 15 fps is possible over 3G and satellite networks

Role of Wireless technology in mobile augmented reality system (MARS)

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3G migration in Pakistan

The telecommunication industry in Pakistan has come a long way since the country\u27s independence in 1947. The initial era could be fairly termed as the PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited) monopoly, for it was the sole provider of all telecommunication services across the country. It was not until four decades later that the region embarked into the new world of wireless communication, hence ending the decades old PTCL monopoly. By the end of the late 1990\u27s, government support and international investment in the region opened new doors to innovation and better quality, low cost, healthy competition. Wireless licenses for the private sector in the telecommunication industry triggered a promising chain of events that resulted in a drastic change in the telecommunication infrastructure and service profile. The newly introduced wireless (GSM) technology received enormous support from all stakeholders (consumers, regulatory body, and market) and caused a vital boost in Pakistan\u27s economy. Numerous tangential elements had triggered this vital move in the history of telecommunications in Pakistan. Entrepreneurs intended to test the idea of global joint ventures in the East and hence the idea of international business became a reality. The technology had proven to be a great success in the West, while Pakistan\u27s telecom consumer had lived under the shadow of PTCL dominance for decades and needed more flexibility. At last the world was moving from wired to wireless! Analysts termed this move as the beginning of a new era. The investors, telecommunication businesses, and Pakistani treasury prospered. It was a win-win situation for all involved. The learning curve was steep for both operators and consumers but certainly improved over time. In essence, the principle of deploying the right technology in the right market at the right time led to this remarkable success. The industry today stands on the brink of a similar crossroads via transition from second generation to something beyond. With the partial success of 3G in Europe and the USA, the government has announced the release of three 3G licenses by mid 2009. This decision is not yet fully supported by all but still initiated parallel efforts by the operators and the vendors to integrate this next move into their existing infrastructure

Network-wide Measurement of TCP RTT in 2G Networks

We analyze existing server-side log data of a large scale automatic toll system to measure the TCP round-trip-time (RTT) as experienced by the communication between the central system and the on-board units (OBUs) deployed for tolling heavy-goods vehicles. The RTT is estimated from passive monitoring by parsing server-side log files and aggregating fleet-wide statistics over time. Using this data we compare the characteristics of the four different types of OBU and the three GPRS (2G) networks used. We find the RTT data to be consistent with existing, smaller samples and extend the observed RTT range by an order of magnitude. The OBU types exhibit a markedly different behavior, most notably for long RTTs, and we find one of the 2G networks to -˜hum’ at 50 Hz and harmonics

Intersystem soft handover for converged DVB-H and UMTS networks

Digital video broadcasting for handhelds (DVB-H) is the standard for broadcasting Internet Protocol (IP) data services to mobile portable devices. To provide interactive services for DVB-H, the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) can be used as a terrestrial interaction channel for the unidirectional DVB-H network. The converged DVB-H and UMTS network can be used to address the congestion problems due to the limited multimedia channel accesses of the UMTS network. In the converged network, intersystem soft handover between DVB-H and UMTS is needed for an optimum radio resource allocation, which reduces network operation cost while providing the required quality of service. This paper deals with the intersystem soft handover between DVB-H and UMTS in such a converged network. The converged network structure is presented. A novel soft handover scheme is proposed and evaluated. After considering the network operation cost, the performance tradeoff between the network quality of service and the network operation cost for the intersystem soft handover in the converged network is modeled using a stochastic tree and analyzed using a numerical simulation. The results show that the proposed algorithm is feasible and has the potential to be used for implementation in the real environment