663 research outputs found

    A generic communication architecture for end to end mobility management in the Internet

    Get PDF
    The proliferation of laptops, cellular phones, and other mobile computing platforms connected to the Internet has triggered numerous research works into mobile networking. The increasingly dense set of wireless access networks that can be potentially accessed by mobile users open the door to an era of pervasive computing. However, the puzzle of wireless access networks that tends to become the natural access networks to the Internet pushes legacy“wireoriented” communication architectures to their limit. Indeed, there is a critical gap between the increasingly used stream centric multimedia applications and the incapacity of legacy communication stacks to insure the continuity of these multimedia sessions for mobile users. This paper proposes a generic communication architecture (i.e. not dedicated to a specific protocol or technology) that aims to fill the gap between the application layer continuity needs and the discontinuity of the communication service inherent to the physical layer of wireless mobile networks. This paper introduces an end to end communication architecture that preserves efficiently session continuity in the context of mobile and wireless networks. This architecture is mainly based on end to end mechanisms that could be integrated into a new generation reconfigurable transport protocol. The proposed contribution efficiently satisfies mobility requirements such as efficient location management, fast handover, and continuous connection support

    Bringing IPTV to the Market through Differentiated Service Provisioning

    Get PDF
    The world of telecommunications continues to provide radical technologies. Offering the benefits of a superior television experience at reduced long-term costs, IPTV is the newest offering. Deployments, however, are slow to be rolled out; the hardware and software support necessary is not uniformly available. This paper examines the challenges in providing IPTV services and the limitations in developments to overcome these challenges. Subsequently, a proposal is made which attempts to help solve the challenge of fulfilling real-time multimedia transmissions through provisioning for differentiated services. Initial implementations in Opnet are documented, and the paper concludes with an outline of future work

    An architecture for converging reconfigurable radio systems

    Get PDF
    Since mobile telecommunication systems were rst introduced in the early 1980s they have become a pervasive part of modern life, with an estimated 85% of the global population believed to be in possession of a mobile communications device. To address the ever-increasing demand for fast ubiquitous provision of multimedia and data services, new Radio Access Technologies (RATs) capable of meeting those demands are constantly being developed and standardised. Currently the fourth generation of RATs is being deployed by network operators around the world, with standards bodies already working to develop and standardise even more advanced RATs. The introduction of any new, and often upgraded, RATs almost always requires network operators to purchase new hardware systems capable of supporting the new RATs, which must then be integrated with the plethora of RATs already present in the network operator's heterogeneous Radio Access Network (RAN). This process is costly and poses risks for network operators, as they must rst invest signi cant amounts of capital on new network hardware and then they have to convince their subscribers to purchase new mobile devices which are capable of supporting the new RAT. Recon gurable Radio Systems (RRSs) are a relatively new approach to developing, implementing and managing RATs within a RAN. A RRS di ers from a traditional radio system, in that each RAT is de ned in software which can be reused across multiple generic hardware platforms. Many RRSs also provide the functionality to manage and control the dynamic implementation of di erent RATs in network elements throughout a RAN. Although RRSs are the subject of numerous research e orts, there is currently no unifying approach or set of requirements for an RRS architecture or framework. In- stead various researchers focus their e orts on speci c topics relating to RRS, such as the recon gurable management system, or how RATs are modelled and implemented in software. This lack of formal standardisation or approach to developing RRSs represents a hindrance to the widespread adoption of RRSs

    Reconfigurable Computing Systems for Robotics using a Component-Oriented Approach

    Get PDF
    Robotic platforms are becoming more complex due to the wide range of modern applications, including multiple heterogeneous sensors and actuators. In order to comply with real-time and power-consumption constraints, these systems need to process a large amount of heterogeneous data from multiple sensors and take action (via actuators), which represents a problem as the resources of these systems have limitations in memory storage, bandwidth, and computational power. Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are programmable logic devices that offer high-speed parallel processing. FPGAs are particularly well-suited for applications that require real-time processing, high bandwidth, and low latency. One of the fundamental advantages of FPGAs is their flexibility in designing hardware tailored to specific needs, making them adaptable to a wide range of applications. They can be programmed to pre-process data close to sensors, which reduces the amount of data that needs to be transferred to other computing resources, improving overall system efficiency. Additionally, the reprogrammability of FPGAs enables them to be repurposed for different applications, providing a cost-effective solution that needs to adapt quickly to changing demands. FPGAs' performance per watt is close to that of Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), with the added advantage of being reprogrammable. Despite all the advantages of FPGAs (e.g., energy efficiency, computing capabilities), the robotics community has not fully included them so far as part of their systems for several reasons. First, designing FPGA-based solutions requires hardware knowledge and longer development times as their programmability is more challenging than Central Processing Units (CPUs) or Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Second, porting a robotics application (or parts of it) from software to an accelerator requires adequate interfaces between software and FPGAs. Third, the robotics workflow is already complex on its own, combining several fields such as mechanics, electronics, and software. There have been partial contributions in the state-of-the-art for FPGAs as part of robotics systems. However, a study of FPGAs as a whole for robotics systems is missing in the literature, which is the primary goal of this dissertation. Three main objectives have been established to accomplish this. (1) Define all components required for an FPGAs-based system for robotics applications as a whole. (2) Establish how all the defined components are related. (3) With the help of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) techniques, generate these components, deploy them, and integrate them into existing solutions. The component-oriented approach proposed in this dissertation provides a proper solution for designing and implementing FPGA-based designs for robotics applications. The modular architecture, the tool 'FPGA Interfaces for Robotics Middlewares' (FIRM), and the toolchain 'FPGA Architectures for Robotics' (FAR) provide a set of tools and a comprehensive design process that enables the development of complex FPGA-based designs more straightforwardly and efficiently. The component-oriented approach contributed to the state-of-the-art in FPGA-based designs significantly for robotics applications and helps to promote their wider adoption and use by specialists with little FPGA knowledge

    Will SDN be part of 5G?

    Get PDF
    For many, this is no longer a valid question and the case is considered settled with SDN/NFV (Software Defined Networking/Network Function Virtualization) providing the inevitable innovation enablers solving many outstanding management issues regarding 5G. However, given the monumental task of softwarization of radio access network (RAN) while 5G is just around the corner and some companies have started unveiling their 5G equipment already, the concern is very realistic that we may only see some point solutions involving SDN technology instead of a fully SDN-enabled RAN. This survey paper identifies all important obstacles in the way and looks at the state of the art of the relevant solutions. This survey is different from the previous surveys on SDN-based RAN as it focuses on the salient problems and discusses solutions proposed within and outside SDN literature. Our main focus is on fronthaul, backward compatibility, supposedly disruptive nature of SDN deployment, business cases and monetization of SDN related upgrades, latency of general purpose processors (GPP), and additional security vulnerabilities, softwarization brings along to the RAN. We have also provided a summary of the architectural developments in SDN-based RAN landscape as not all work can be covered under the focused issues. This paper provides a comprehensive survey on the state of the art of SDN-based RAN and clearly points out the gaps in the technology.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figure

    Mobihealth: mobile health services based on body area networks

    Get PDF
    In this chapter we describe the concept of MobiHealth and the approach developed during the MobiHealth project (MobiHealth, 2002). The concept was to bring together the technologies of Body Area Networks (BANs), wireless broadband communications and wearable medical devices to provide mobile healthcare services for patients and health professionals. These technologies enable remote patient care services such as management of chronic conditions and detection of health emergencies. Because the patient is free to move anywhere whilst wearing the MobiHealth BAN, patient mobility is maximised. The vision is that patients can enjoy enhanced freedom and quality of life through avoidance or reduction of hospital stays. For the health services it means that pressure on overstretched hospital services can be alleviated
    • 

    corecore