An asymptotically optimal push-pull method for multicasting over a random network

We consider allcast and multicast flow problems where either all of the nodes or only a subset of the nodes may be in session. Traffic from each node in the session has to be sent to every other node in the session. If the session does not consist of all the nodes, the remaining nodes act as relays. The nodes are connected by undirected links whose capacities are independent and identically distributed random variables. We study the asymptotics of the capacity region (with network coding) in the limit of a large number of nodes, and show that the normalized sum rate converges to a constant almost surely. We then provide a decentralized push-pull algorithm that asymptotically achieves this normalized sum rate without network coding.Comment: 13 pages, extended version of paper presented at the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT) 2012, minor revision to text to address review comments, to appear in IEEE Transactions in information theor

Content Popularity Prediction Towards Location-Aware Mobile Edge Caching

Mobile edge caching enables content delivery within the radio access network, which effectively alleviates the backhaul burden and reduces response time. To fully exploit edge storage resources, the most popular contents should be identified and cached. Observing that user demands on certain contents vary greatly at different locations, this paper devises location-customized caching schemes to maximize the total content hit rate. Specifically, a linear model is used to estimate the future content hit rate. For the case where the model noise is zero-mean, a ridge regression based online algorithm with positive perturbation is proposed. Regret analysis indicates that the proposed algorithm asymptotically approaches the optimal caching strategy in the long run. When the noise structure is unknown, an $H_{\infty}$ filter based online algorithm is further proposed by taking a prescribed threshold as input, which guarantees prediction accuracy even under the worst-case noise process. Both online algorithms require no training phases, and hence are robust to the time-varying user demands. The underlying causes of estimation errors of both algorithms are numerically analyzed. Moreover, extensive experiments on real world dataset are conducted to validate the applicability of the proposed algorithms. It is demonstrated that those algorithms can be applied to scenarios with different noise features, and are able to make adaptive caching decisions, achieving content hit rate that is comparable to that via the hindsight optimal strategy.Comment: to appear in IEEE Trans. Multimedi

Network coding: from theory to media streaming

Network coding has recently emerged as an alternative to traditional routing algorithms in communication systems. In network coding, the network nodes can combine the packets they receive before forwarding them to the neighbouring nodes. Intensive research efforts have demonstrated that such a processing in the network nodes can provide advantages in terms of throughput or robustness. These potentials, combined with the advent of ad hoc and wireless delivery architectures have triggered the interest of research community about the application of the network coding principles to streaming applications. This paper describes the potentials of network coding in emerging delivery architectures such as overlay or peer-to-peer networks. It overviews the principles of practical network coding algorithms and outlines the challenges posed by multimedia streaming applications. Finally, it provides a survey of the recent work on the application of network coding to media streaming applications, both in wireless or wired communication scenarios. Promising results have been demonstrated where network coding is able to bring benefits in media streaming applications. However, delay and complexity constraints are often posed as the main challenging issues that still prevent the wide-scale deployment of network coding algorithms in multimedia communication

MULTIMEDIA ON GEOGRAPHIC NETWORK

In this thesis we investigate the topic of the multimedia contents distribution on a geo- graphic network which is a rarefied and huge field. First of all we have to classify the main parts necessary in the multimedia distribution on a geographic network. The main aspects of a geographic network that will be highlighted in this thesis are: the mechanism used to retrieve the sources of the multimedia content; in the case of the peer-to-peer network on geographic network one of the most important mechanism is the query flooding protocol. The kind of overlay network (peer-to-peer) used to distribute the multimedia content. The usage of this overlay network in a multicast network. The security of the overlay network over a geographic network. Therefore the first topic which is investigated in this thesis is the query flooding protocol that can be used in any kind of query operation on a peer-to-peer network. For this protocol we achieve an analytical model through a complex analysis of the proxies network. In this analysis we can see how the proxies permit an improvement in the performance with respect to the routing operations in a generic network of routers. Moreover we address a simple formulation and framework about the performance of the network with and without layer 7 (proxy) and we apply them in three different types of scenarios to show the advantages achieved with the usage of proxies instead of routers. Through the query flooding operation, each peer of the peer-to-peer network can achieve the list of the peers that hold the desired multimedia content. In a multimedia content dis- tribution system, after the previous step in which the list of the peers that hold the desired multimedia content is retrieved, it is necessary to establish the kind of peer-to-peer network used to distribute this multimedia content to the peers that require it. Therefore the second aspect analysed in this thesis, is how the peer-to-peer network is built so that it is possible to provide the multimedia content to the vast majority of peers (that require this content) with the minimum delay. The construction of the peer-to-peer networks used for the distribution of the multimedia contents is not a very investigated field. Thus in this thesis we produce new algorithms used to build peer-to-peer networks in an incremental way on asymmetric and radio channel and we establish which algorithm is better with respect to the maximum delay of the network, the maximization of the number of peers accepted in the network and the minimization of the bit error probability of each peer of the peer-to-peer network. In this thesis, we propose an usage of the overlay network (peer-to-peer network) in a multicast network. We introduce an innovative mechanism that exploits the peer-to-peer network to make reliable a standard unreliable multicast network. Moreover we present an analytical model for this innovative mechanism. Finally the last aspect of a geographic network is the security of the communications among a group of peers. Thus to ensure the maximum level of security with secure commu- nications among a group of three or more peers, in this thesis we propose a new protocol, based on the Massey Omura protocol, which can allow the communications among the peers of a peer-to-peer network in a secure way. Moreover we present the security prob- lems of this Massey Omura Multiple Users Protocol and how it is possible to avoid these issues through a specific encryption function and a specific decryption function by chang- ing the encryption and decryption keys of each peer when the source peer changes. Finally we present a new cryptography protocol which we use to share the decryption shared key that is used in the Massey Omura Multiple Users Protocol

Design of implicit routing protocols for large scale mobile wireless sensor networks

Strathclyde theses - ask staff. Thesis no. : T13189Most developments in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) routing protocols address static network scenarios. Schemes developed to manage mobility in other mobile networking implementations do not translate effectively to WSNs as the system design parameters are markedly different. Thus this research focuses on the issues of mobility and scalability in order to enable the full potential of WSNs to self-organise and co-operate and in so doing, meet the requirements of a rich mix of applications. In the goal of designing efficient, reliable routing protocols for large scale mobile WSN applications, this work lays the foundation by firstly presenting a strong case supported by extensive simulations, for the use of implicit connections. Then two novel implicit routing protocols - Virtual Grid Paging (VGP) and Virtual Zone Registration and Paging (VZRP) - that treat packet routing from node mobility and network scalability viewpoints are designed and analysed. Implicit routing exploits the connection availability and diversity in the underlying network to provide benefits such as fault tolerance, overhead control and improvement in QoS (Quality of Service) such as delay. Analysis and simulation results show that the proposed protocols guarantee significant improvement, delivering a more reliable, more efficient and better network performance compared with alternatives.Most developments in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) routing protocols address static network scenarios. Schemes developed to manage mobility in other mobile networking implementations do not translate effectively to WSNs as the system design parameters are markedly different. Thus this research focuses on the issues of mobility and scalability in order to enable the full potential of WSNs to self-organise and co-operate and in so doing, meet the requirements of a rich mix of applications. In the goal of designing efficient, reliable routing protocols for large scale mobile WSN applications, this work lays the foundation by firstly presenting a strong case supported by extensive simulations, for the use of implicit connections. Then two novel implicit routing protocols - Virtual Grid Paging (VGP) and Virtual Zone Registration and Paging (VZRP) - that treat packet routing from node mobility and network scalability viewpoints are designed and analysed. Implicit routing exploits the connection availability and diversity in the underlying network to provide benefits such as fault tolerance, overhead control and improvement in QoS (Quality of Service) such as delay. Analysis and simulation results show that the proposed protocols guarantee significant improvement, delivering a more reliable, more efficient and better network performance compared with alternatives