Bounded control of multiple-delay systems with applications to ATM networks

Congestion control in the available bit rate (ABR) class of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks poses interesting challenges due to the presence of multiple-delays, magnitude and rate constraints on the inputs and additive disturbances. We consider a fixed-structure controller for an ATM/ABR network, and solve a robust tracking control problem in which the target is a threshold on the queue level

A quantitative comparison of ad hoc routing protocols with and without channel adaptation

To efficiently support tetherless applications in ad hoc wireless mobile computing networks, a judicious ad hoc routing protocol is needed. Much research has been done on designing ad hoc routing protocols and some well-known protocols are also being implemented in practical situations. However, one major imperfection in existing protocols is that the time-varying nature of the wireless channels among the mobile terminals is ignored, let alone exploited. This could be a severe design drawback because the varying channel quality can lead to very poor overall route quality in turn, resulting in low data throughput. Indeed, better performance could be achieved if a routing protocol dynamically changes the routes according to the channel conditions. In this paper, we first propose two channel adaptive routing protocols which work by using an adaptive channel coding and modulation scheme that allows a mobile terminal to dynamically adjust the data throughput via changing the amount of error protection incorporated. We then present a qualitative and quantitative comparison of the two classes of ad hoc routing protocols. Extensive simulation results indicate that channel adaptive ad hoc routing protocols are more efficient in that shorter delays and higher rates are achieved, at the expense of a higher overhead in route set-up and maintenance. © 2005 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

A new approach for asynchronous distributed rate control of elastic sessions in integrated packet networks

We develop a new class of asynchronous distributed algorithms for the explicit rate control of elastic sessions in an integrated packet network. Sessions can request for minimum guaranteed rate allocations (e.g., minimum cell rates in the ATM context), and, under this constraint, we seek to allocate the max-min fair rates to the sessions. We capture the integrated network context by permitting the link bandwidths available to elastic sessions to be stochastically time varying. The available capacity of each link is viewed as some statistic of this stochastic process [e.g., a fraction of the mean, or a large deviations-based equivalent service capacity (ESC)]. The ESC is obtained so as to satisfy an overflow probability constraint on the buffer length. For fixed available capacity at each link, we show that the vector of max-min fair rates can be computed from the root of a certain vector equation. A distributed asynchronous stochastic approximation technique is then used to develop a provably convergent distributed algorithm for obtaining the root of the equation, even when the link flows and the available capacities are obtained from on-line measurements. The switch algorithm does not require per connection monitoring, nor does it require per connection marking of control packets. A virtual buffer based approach for on-line estimation of the ESC is utilized. We also propose techniques for handling large variations in the available capacity owing to the arrivals or departures of CBR/VBR sessions. Finally, simulation results are provided to demonstrate the performance of this class of algorithms in the local and wide area network context

A quantitative comparison of multiple access control protocols for wireless ATM

The multiple access control (MAC) problem in a wireless network has intrigued researchers for years. For a broad-band wireless network such as wireless ATM, an effective MAC protocol is very much desired because efficient allocation of channel bandwidth is imperative in accommodating a large user population with satisfactory quality of service. Indeed, MAC protocols for a wireless ATM network in which user traffic requirements are highly heterogeneous (classified into CBR, VBR, and ABR), are even more intricate to design. Considerable research efforts expended in tackling the problem have resulted in a myriad of MAC protocols. While each protocol is individually shown to be effective by the respective designers, it is unclear how these different protocols compare against each other on a unified basis. In this paper, we quantitatively compare seven recently proposed TDMA-based MAC protocols for integrated wireless data and voice services. We first propose a taxonomy of TDMA-based protocols, from which we carefully select seven protocols, namely SCAMA, DTDMA/VR, DTDMA/PR, DQRUMA, DPRMA, DSA++, and PRMA/DA, such that they are devised based on rather orthogonal design philosophies. The objective of our comparison is to highlight the merits and demerits of different protocol designs.published_or_final_versio

Investigating the Effects of Network Dynamics on Quality of Delivery Prediction and Monitoring for Video Delivery Networks

Video streaming over the Internet requires an optimized delivery system given the advances in network architecture, for example, Software Defined Networks. Machine Learning (ML) models have been deployed in an attempt to predict the quality of the video streams. Some of these efforts have considered the prediction of Quality of Delivery (QoD) metrics of the video stream in an effort to measure the quality of the video stream from the network perspective. In most cases, these models have either treated the ML algorithms as black-boxes or failed to capture the network dynamics of the associated video streams. This PhD investigates the effects of network dynamics in QoD prediction using ML techniques. The hypothesis that this thesis investigates is that ML techniques that model the underlying network dynamics achieve accurate QoD and video quality predictions and measurements. The thesis results demonstrate that the proposed techniques offer performance gains over approaches that fail to consider network dynamics. This thesis results highlight that adopting the correct model by modelling the dynamics of the network infrastructure is crucial to the accuracy of the ML predictions. These results are significant as they demonstrate that improved performance is achieved at no additional computational or storage cost. These techniques can help the network manager, data center operatives and video service providers take proactive and corrective actions for improved network efficiency and effectiveness

A performance study of multiple access control protocols for wireless multimedia services

The multiple access control (MAC) problem in a wireless network has intrigued researchers for years. For a broadband wireless multimedia network such as wireless ATM, an effective MAC protocol is very much desired because efficient allocation of channel bandwidth is imperative in accommodating a large user population with satisfactory quality of service. Indeed, MAC protocols for a wireless ATM network, in which user traffic requirements are highly heterogeneous (classified into CBR, VBR, and ABR), are even more intricate to design. Considerable research efforts expended in tackling the problem have resulted in a myriad of MAC protocols. While each protocol is individually shown to be effective by the respective designers, it is unclear how these different protocols compare against each other on a unified basis. We quantitatively compare seven previously proposed TDMA-based MAC protocols for integrated wireless data and voice services. We first propose a taxonomy of TDMA-based protocols, from which we carefully select seven protocols, namely SCAMA, DTDMA/VR, DTDMA/PR, D4RUMA, DPRMA, DSA++, and PRMA/DA, such that they are devised based on rather orthogonal design philosophies. The objective of our comparison is to highlight the merits and demerits of different protocol designs.published_or_final_versio