Architectural and mobility management designs in internet-based infrastructure wireless mesh networks

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) have recently emerged to be a cost-effective solution to support large-scale wireless Internet access. They have numerous ap- plications, such as broadband Internet access, building automation, and intelligent transportation systems. One research challenge for Internet-based WMNs is to design efficient mobility management techniques for mobile users to achieve seamless roam- ing. Mobility management includes handoff management and location management. The objective of this research is to design new handoff and location management techniques for Internet-based infrastructure WMNs. Handoff management enables a wireless network to maintain active connections as mobile users move into new service areas. Previous solutions on handoff manage- ment in infrastructure WMNs mainly focus on intra-gateway mobility. New handoff issues involved in inter-gateway mobility in WMNs have not been properly addressed. Hence, a new architectural design is proposed to facilitate inter-gateway handoff man- agement in infrastructure WMNs. The proposed architecture is designed to specifi- cally address the special handoff design challenges in Internet-based WMNs. It can facilitate parallel executions of handoffs from multiple layers, in conjunction with a data caching mechanism which guarantees minimum packet loss during handoffs. Based on the proposed architecture, a Quality of Service (QoS) handoff mechanism is also proposed to achieve QoS requirements for both handoff and existing traffic before and after handoffs in the inter-gateway WMN environment. Location management in wireless networks serves the purpose of tracking mobile users and locating them prior to establishing new communications. Existing location management solutions proposed for single-hop wireless networks cannot be directly applied to Internet-based WMNs. Hence, a dynamic location management framework in Internet-based WMNs is proposed that can guarantee the location management performance and also minimize the protocol overhead. In addition, a novel resilient location area design in Internet-based WMNs is also proposed. The formation of the location areas can adapt to the changes of both paging load and service load so that the tradeoff between paging overhead and mobile device power consumption can be balanced, and at the same time, the required QoS performance of existing traffic is maintained. Therefore, together with the proposed handoff management design, efficient mobility management can be realized in Internet-based infrastructure WMNs

IP Mobile Multicast over Next Generation Satellite Networks. Design and Evaluation of a Seamless Mobility Framework for IP Multicast Communications over a Multi-beam Geostationary Satellite Network

The inherent broadcast nature of satellites, their global coverage and direct access to a large number of subscribers give satellites unrivalled advantages in supporting IP multicast applications. A new generation of satellite systems that support regenerative on-board processors and multiple spot beam technology have opened new possibilities of implementing IP multicast communication over satellites. These new features enable satellites to make efficient use of their allocated bandwidth resources and provide cost effective network services but equally, create new challenges for mobile satellite terminals. IP mobility support in general and IP mobile multicast support in particular on mobile satellite terminals like the ones mounted on continental flights, maritime vessels, etc., still remain big challenges that have received very little attention from the research community. Up till now, there are no proposed mechanisms to support IP multicast for mobile receivers/sources in multi-beam satellite networks in open literature. This study explores the suitability of IP multicast mobility support schemes defined for terrestrial networks in a satellite environment and proposes novel schemes based on the concepts of Home and Remote subscription-based approaches, multiple interface and PMIPv6 protocol. Detailed analysis and comparison of results obtained from the proposed schemes, Mobile IP (MIP) Home and Remote subscription-based approaches (for terrestrial networks) when implemented on a reference multi-beam satellite network are presented. From these results, the proposed schemes outperform the MIP Home and Remote subscription-based approaches in terms of gateway handover latency, number of multicast packets lost and signalling cost over the satellite air interface

Mobility Management and Congestion Control in Wireless Mesh Networks

Today, wireless mesh networks are increasingly popular. In order to be better adapted to the increasing number of offered services in telecommunications, many Quality of Service (QoS) problems are being considered. Some of the important issues are: admission control, congestion control, and handoff management of the network. Our research focuses on those issues individually and combining them together in order to find solutions to enhance the quality of service provided to each user as demanded in their SLA. A novel Markov Decision-based Admission Control and Routing (MDACR) algorithm is proposed. The MDACR algorithm finds a sub-optimal solution using the value iteration method. Admission rate increases for both types of user associations (handoff and new user association request), which is addressed by a proposed multi-homing admission and routing algorithm. This algorithm associates the user with two different access points. This is beneficial in a highly congested network, which permits a new routing metric to assure seamless handoff in the network. When a user is moving, MDACR algorithm finds a maximally jointed route with the old route, which decreases the handoff delay. Another aspect is considered in order to improve the QoS in WMN, which is the congestion control, a novel proactive approach is proposed. Where a Variable Order Markov (VOM) prediction model is introduced to predict the congestion status in each link in the network, a new route is established for the traffic based on the output of the VOM model, and the transmission rate is adjusted based on the link congestion status to increase the overall user satisfaction. Sub-optimal model is introduced and solved using Lagrange method. Based on the predicted link congestion, rerouting algorithm is implemented in order to insure load balancing and to mitigate congestion over WMN network. Our ultimate goal is to improve the QoS in WMN by dealing individually with the issues stated above and try to combine them together and provide QoS framework which deals with many types of services

Immersive interconnected virtual and augmented reality : a 5G and IoT perspective

Despite remarkable advances, current augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) applications are a largely individual and local experience. Interconnected AR/VR, where participants can virtually interact across vast distances, remains a distant dream. The great barrier that stands between current technology and such applications is the stringent end-to-end latency requirement, which should not exceed 20 ms in order to avoid motion sickness and other discomforts. Bringing AR/VR to the next level to enable immersive interconnected AR/VR will require significant advances towards 5G ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) and a Tactile Internet of Things (IoT). In this article, we articulate the technical challenges to enable a future AR/VR end-to-end architecture, that combines 5G URLLC and Tactile IoT technology to support this next generation of interconnected AR/VR applications. Through the use of IoT sensors and actuators, AR/VR applications will be aware of the environmental and user context, supporting human-centric adaptations of the application logic, and lifelike interactions with the virtual environment. We present potential use cases and the required technological building blocks. For each of them, we delve into the current state of the art and challenges that need to be addressed before the dream of remote AR/VR interaction can become reality