A Network Algorithm for 3D/2D IPTV Distribution using WiMAX and WLAN Technologies

The final publication is available at link.springer.comThe appearance of new broadband wireless technologies jointly with the ability to offer enough quality of service to provide IPTV over them, have made possible the mobility and ubiquity of any type of device to access the IPTV network. The minimum bandwidth required in the access network to provide appropriate quality 3D/2D IPTV services jointly with the need to guarantee the Quality of Experience (QoE) to the end user, makes the need of algorithms that should be able to combine different wireless standards and technologies. In this paper, we propose a network algorithm that manages the IPTV access network and decides which type of wireless technology the customers should connect with when using multiband devices, depending on the requirements of the IPTV client device, the available networks, and some network parameters (such as the number of loss packets and packet delay), to provide the maximum QoE to the customer. The measurements taken in a real environment from several wireless networks allow us to know the performance of the proposed system when it selects each one of them. The measurements taken from a test bench demonstrate the success of our system.This work has been partially supported by the Polytechnic University of Valencia, though the PAID-15-10 multidisciplinary projects, by the Instituto de Telecomunicacoes, Next Generation Networks and Applications Group (NetGNA), Portugal, and by National Funding from the FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia through the PEst-OE/EEI/LA0008/2011 Project.Lloret, J.; Cánovas Solbes, A.; Rodrigues, JJPC.; Lin, K. (2013). A Network Algorithm for 3D/2D IPTV Distribution using WiMAX and WLAN Technologies. Multimedia Tools and Applications. 67(1):7-30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-011-0929-4S730671Abukharis S, MacKenzie R, Farrell TO (2009) Improving QoS of Video Transmitted Over 802.11 WLANs Using Frame Aggregation. London Communications Symposium.. London, United Kingdom, September 03–04Alejandro Canovas, Fernando Boronat, Carlos Turro and Jaime Lloret (2009) Multicast TV over WLAN in a University Campus Network, The Fifth International Conference on Networking and Services (ICNS 2009), Valencia (Spain), April 20–25Alfonsi B (2005) “I want my IPTV: Internet Protocol television predicted a winner,” IEEE Distributed Systems Online, vol.6, no.2Birlik F, Gurbuz Ö, Ercetin O (2009) IPTV Home Networking via 802.11 Wireless Mesh Networks: An Implementation Experience. IEEE Trans. on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 55, No. 3Cai LX, Ling X, Shen X, Mark JW, Cai L (2009) Supporting voice and video applications over IEEE 802.11n WLANs. Wireless Networks 15:443–454Cunningham G, Perry P, Murphy J, Murphy L (2009) Seamless Handover of IPTV Streams in a Wireless LAN Network. Transactions on Broadcasting, IEEE 55(4):796–801Dai Z, Fracchia R, Gosteau J, Pellati P, Vivier G (2008) Vertical Handover Criteria and Algorithm in IEEE802.11 and 802.16 Hybrid Networks, IEEE International Conference on Communications, 2008. ICC’08. Beijing, China, 19–23Gidlund M, Ekling J (2008) VoIP and IPTV distribution over wireless mesh networks in indoor environment. IEEE Trans Consum Electron 54(4):1665–1671Hellberg C, Greene D, Boyes T (2007) Broadband network architectures: designing and deploying triple-play services. Prentice Hall PTR Upper Saddle River, NJ, USAHsu H-T, Kuo F-Y, Lu P-H (2010) Design of WiFi/WiMAX dual-band E-shaped patch antennas through cavity model approach. Microw Opt Technol Lett 52(2):471–474IEEE 802.11 Working Group, At http://www.ieee802.org/11/index.shtml [last access: July 2011]IEEE Std 802.11™-2007 - IEEE Standard for Information Technology— Telecommunications and information exchange between systems— Local and metropolitan area networks—Specific requirements Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) SpecificationsIEEE Std 802.16™-2009, IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks, Part 16: Air Interface for Broadband Wireless Access Systems. At http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.16-2009.pdf [last access: July 2011]inCode Telecom group Inc. (2006) The Quad-Play—the First Wave of the Converged Services Evolution. White paper, FebruaryIPTV Focus Group, Available at http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/IPTV/ [last access: July 2011]Jindal S, Jindal A, Gupta N (2005) Grouping WI-MAX, 3 G and WI-FI for wireless broadband, The First IEEE and IFIP International Conference in Central Asia on Internet 2005, September 26–29, Bishkek, KyrgyzstanJin-Yu Zhang, Man-Gui Liang (2008) “IPTV QoS Implement Mechanism in WLAN,” Int. Conference on Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing. pp 117-120, 15–17Karen Fernanda Medina Velez and Ivonne Alexandra Revelo Arias (2006) Diseño y planificación de una red inalámbrica basada en los estandares IEEE 802.16 (WIMAX) y 802.11 (WIFI) para proveer de internet de banda ancha a poblaciones de las provincias de Loja y Zamora Chinchipe, Tesis Electrónica y Telecomunicaciones (IET), Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito, EcuadorKnightson K, Morita N, Towle T (2005) NGN architecture: generic principles, functional architecture, and implementation. IEEE Commun Mag 43(10):49–56Lai C, Min Chen (2011) Playback-Rate Based Streaming Services for Maximum Network Capacity in IP Multimedia Subsystem, IEEE System Journal, doi: 10.1109/JSYST.2011.2165190Lee K-H, Trong ST, Lee B-G, Kim Y-T (2008) QoS-Guaranteed IPTV Service Provisioning in Home Network with IEEE 802.11e Wireless LAN,” IEEE Network Operations and Management Symposium. pp 71-76Marcelo Atenas, Sandra Sendra, Miguel Garcia, Jaime Lloret (2010) IPTV Performance in IEEE 802.11n WLANs, IEEE Global Communications Conference (IEEE Globecomm 2010), Miami (USA), December 6–10Miguel Garcia, Jaime Lloret, Miguel Edo, Raquel Lacuesta (2009) IPTV Distribution Network Access System Using WiMAX and WLAN Technologies, International Symposium on High Performance Distributed Computing (HPDC 2009), Munich (Germany), June 11–13Park AH, Choi JK (2007) “QoS guaranteed IPTV service over Wireless Broadband network”, The 9th Int. Conference on Advanced Communication Technology 2:1077–1080Retnasothie FE, Ozdemir MK, YÄucek T, Zhang J, Celebi H, Muththaiah R (2006) “Wireless IPTV over WiMAX: Challenges and applications”. IEEE Wamicon, Clearwater, FLSchollmeier G, Winkler C (2004) Providing sustainable QoS in next-generation networks. IEEE Communication Magazine 42(6):102–107She J, Hou F, Ho P-H, Xie L-L (2007) IPTV over WiMAX: Key Success Factors, Challenges, and Solutions [Advances in Mobile Multimedia]. IEEE Commun Mag 45(8):87–93Shihab E, Cai L, Wan F, Gulliver TA, Tin N (2008) Wireless mesh networks for in-home IPTV distribution. IEEE Netw 22(1):52–57Shihab E, Wan F, Cai L, Gulliver A, Tin N (2007) “Performance Analysis of IPTV in Home Networks”, IEEE Global Telecommunications (GLOBECOM 2007), Washington, DC, pp 26–30Singh H, ChangYeul Kvvon, Seong Soo Kim, Chiu Ngo (2008) “IPTV over WirelessLAN: Promises and Challenges,” 5th IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference, pp.626-631Super AG technologies, At http://www.digicom.it/italiano/supporto/WhitePaper/Wireless108M_whitepaper.pdf [last access: July 2011]VLC Media Player, Available at www.videolan.org [last access: July 2011]Wen-Hsing Kuo, Tehuang Liu, Wanjiun Liao (2007) Utility-Based Resource Allocation for Layer-Encoded IPTV Multicast in IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) Wireless Networks. IEEE International Conference on Communications 2007 (ICC 2007), 24–28. Glasgow, Scotland pp 1754-1759Wireshark Network Protocol Analyzer, Available at www.wireshark.org [last access: July 2011]Xiao Y, Du X, Zhang J, Hu F, Guizani S (2007) Internet protocol television (IPTV): the killer application for the next-generation internet. IEEE Commun Mag 45(11):126–134Yarali A, Rahman S, Mbula B (2008) WIMAX: The innovate Broadband Wireless access technology. Journal of Communications 3(2):53–6

Optimized IP-CANs to support best charged IMS scenarios

conference paper Published in Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications, 2009 IEEE 20th International Symposium by IEEE.The pricing and charging mechanisms used in Next Generation Network (NGN) deployments will influence the profitability of network operators. NGNs present an opportunity for the success of service delivery platforms designed for IP multimedia communications, like the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Moreover, they present a platform for the delivery of a multitude of applications and services to users with different expectations and budgets. Although usage-based charging schemes are more meaningful, some recent successful Internet-based applications and services have attracted widespread usage due to enforcement of flat-rate pricing. The choice of a pricing scheme often has a one-to-one relation to the access network technology and the quality of service guarantee. Flat-rate pricing may easily be associated with best effort transport. This implies that some users opt for services without QoS guarantee when favoured by the pricing methodology. This paper explores scenarios where services with different QoS requirements available to users with varying pricing preferences can be provided over a set of IP connection access networks (IP-CANs) of the IMS.We explore the use of different pricing schemes for different IP-CANs of the IMS. We perform testbed evaluations and present results depicting the income patterns of networks enforcing different pricing and charging schemes for VoIP and IPTV services. Moreover, we emphasize the use of simplified pricing schemes on communication networks.The pricing and charging mechanisms used in Next Generation Network (NGN) deployments will influence the profitability of network operators. NGNs present an opportunity for the success of service delivery platforms designed for IP multimedia communications, like the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Moreover, they present a platform for the delivery of a multitude of applications and services to users with different expectations and budgets. Although usage-based charging schemes are more meaningful, some recent successful Internet-based applications and services have attracted widespread usage due to enforcement of flat-rate pricing. The choice of a pricing scheme often has a one-to-one relation to the access network technology and the quality of service guarantee. Flat-rate pricing may easily be associated with best effort transport. This implies that some users opt for services without QoS guarantee when favoured by the pricing methodology. This paper explores scenarios where services with different QoS requirements available to users with varying pricing preferences can be provided over a set of IP connection access networks (IP-CANs) of the IMS.We explore the use of different pricing schemes for different IP-CANs of the IMS. We perform testbed evaluations and present results depicting the income patterns of networks enforcing different pricing and charging schemes for VoIP and IPTV services. Moreover, we emphasize the use of simplified pricing schemes on communication networks

WiLiTV: A Low-Cost Wireless Framework for Live TV Services

With the evolution of HDTV and Ultra HDTV, the bandwidth requirement for IP-based TV content is rapidly increasing. Consumers demand uninterrupted service with a high Quality of Experience (QoE). Service providers are constantly trying to differentiate themselves by innovating new ways of distributing content more efficiently with lower cost and higher penetration. In this work, we propose a cost-efficient wireless framework (WiLiTV) for delivering live TV services, consisting of a mix of wireless access technologies (e.g. Satellite, WiFi and LTE overlay links). In the proposed architecture, live TV content is injected into the network at a few residential locations using satellite dishes. The content is then further distributed to other homes using a house-to-house WiFi network or via an overlay LTE network. Our problem is to construct an optimal TV distribution network with the minimum number of satellite injection points, while preserving the highest QoE, for different neighborhood densities. We evaluate the framework using realistic time-varying demand patterns and a diverse set of home location data. Our study demonstrates that the architecture requires 75 - 90% fewer satellite injection points, compared to traditional architectures. Furthermore, we show that most cost savings can be obtained using simple and practical relay routing solutions

Smart PIN: performance and cost-oriented context-aware personal information network

The next generation of networks will involve interconnection of heterogeneous individual networks such as WPAN, WLAN, WMAN and Cellular network, adopting the IP as common infrastructural protocol and providing virtually always-connected network. Furthermore, there are many devices which enable easy acquisition and storage of information as pictures, movies, emails, etc. Therefore, the information overload and divergent content’s characteristics make it difficult for users to handle their data in manual way. Consequently, there is a need for personalised automatic services which would enable data exchange across heterogeneous network and devices. To support these personalised services, user centric approaches for data delivery across the heterogeneous network are also required. In this context, this thesis proposes Smart PIN - a novel performance and cost-oriented context-aware Personal Information Network. Smart PIN's architecture is detailed including its network, service and management components. Within the service component, two novel schemes for efficient delivery of context and content data are proposed: Multimedia Data Replication Scheme (MDRS) and Quality-oriented Algorithm for Multiple-source Multimedia Delivery (QAMMD). MDRS supports efficient data accessibility among distributed devices using data replication which is based on a utility function and a minimum data set. QAMMD employs a buffer underflow avoidance scheme for streaming, which achieves high multimedia quality without content adaptation to network conditions. Simulation models for MDRS and QAMMD were built which are based on various heterogeneous network scenarios. Additionally a multiple-source streaming based on QAMMS was implemented as a prototype and tested in an emulated network environment. Comparative tests show that MDRS and QAMMD perform significantly better than other approaches

Multimedia delivery in the future internet

The term “Networked Media” implies that all kinds of media including text, image, 3D graphics, audio and video are produced, distributed, shared, managed and consumed on-line through various networks, like the Internet, Fiber, WiFi, WiMAX, GPRS, 3G and so on, in a convergent manner [1]. This white paper is the contribution of the Media Delivery Platform (MDP) cluster and aims to cover the Networked challenges of the Networked Media in the transition to the Future of the Internet. Internet has evolved and changed the way we work and live. End users of the Internet have been confronted with a bewildering range of media, services and applications and of technological innovations concerning media formats, wireless networks, terminal types and capabilities. And there is little evidence that the pace of this innovation is slowing. Today, over one billion of users access the Internet on regular basis, more than 100 million users have downloaded at least one (multi)media file and over 47 millions of them do so regularly, searching in more than 160 Exabytes1 of content. In the near future these numbers are expected to exponentially rise. It is expected that the Internet content will be increased by at least a factor of 6, rising to more than 990 Exabytes before 2012, fuelled mainly by the users themselves. Moreover, it is envisaged that in a near- to mid-term future, the Internet will provide the means to share and distribute (new) multimedia content and services with superior quality and striking flexibility, in a trusted and personalized way, improving citizens’ quality of life, working conditions, edutainment and safety. In this evolving environment, new transport protocols, new multimedia encoding schemes, cross-layer inthe network adaptation, machine-to-machine communication (including RFIDs), rich 3D content as well as community networks and the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) overlays are expected to generate new models of interaction and cooperation, and be able to support enhanced perceived quality-of-experience (PQoE) and innovative applications “on the move”, like virtual collaboration environments, personalised services/ media, virtual sport groups, on-line gaming, edutainment. In this context, the interaction with content combined with interactive/multimedia search capabilities across distributed repositories, opportunistic P2P networks and the dynamic adaptation to the characteristics of diverse mobile terminals are expected to contribute towards such a vision. Based on work that has taken place in a number of EC co-funded projects, in Framework Program 6 (FP6) and Framework Program 7 (FP7), a group of experts and technology visionaries have voluntarily contributed in this white paper aiming to describe the status, the state-of-the art, the challenges and the way ahead in the area of Content Aware media delivery platforms

TechNews digests: Autumn 2004

TechNews is a technology, news and analysis service aimed at anyone in the education sector keen to stay informed about technology developments, trends and issues. TechNews focuses on emerging technologies and other technology news. TechNews service : digests september 2004 till May 2010 Analysis pieces and News combined publish every 2 to 3 month

Digitaalisen olohuoneen televisiojärjestelmä kuluttajan näkökulmasta

Suomen televisiojärjestelmien digitalisointi muutti merkittävästi perinteistä televisionkatselumallia. Digitalisointimuutoksen myötä on syntynyt paljon uusia teknologioita ja vaatimuksia, jotka tuovat paljon epätietoisuutta ja ongelmia kuluttajien keskuuteen. Epätietoisuus ja epävarmuus hidastavat digitaalisen olohuoneen muodostumista osaksi kuluttajien jokapäiväistä elämää. Digitalisointi on tuonut myös paljon mahdollisuuksia, joista jokaisen kuluttajan tulisi päästä nauttimaan. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää digitaalisen olohuoneen televisiojärjestelmiä kuluttajan näkökulmasta huomioiden erityisesti erilaiset liityntätekniikat, lähetystavat ja jakelutekniikat. Esimerkkitapausten avulla selvitettiin, minkälaisia vaihtoehtoja digitaalisen olohuoneen rakentamiseksi kuluttajalla on tällä hetkellä. Tutkimuksen avulla voidaan paremmin suunnitella järkevää ja tehokasta mallia television ja Internetin yhdistämiseksi erilaisissa lähtötilanteissa. Digitaalisen olohuoneen televisiojärjestelmien standardit ovat vakiintumassa ja Internetin yhdistyminen televisiojärjestelmiin on käynnistynyt. Kuluttajan kannalta ollaan kuitenkin vielä kaukana yksinkertaisesta ja helppokäyttöisestä kokonaisratkaisusta, jota voidaan kutsua digitaaliseksi olohuoneeksi.The digitalization of the Finnish television system has changed the traditional way of watching television. The new technologies and requirements, which have appeared after the digitalization, generate a lot of uncertainty and problems to consumers. All of this slows down the digitalization of consumer’s living rooms. The digitalization has also brought a lot of possibilities, which every consumer should be able to enjoy. The aim of this research was to clarify the television systems of a digital living room from the consumer’s point of view, while especially considering the different connections, broadcasting and distribution technologies. The different alternatives for building a digital living room were mapped by the means of using several case stories. This research enables to do better planning when one is combining the use of a television and the internet in different situations. The different standards found in the digital living room are stabilizing and the merger of the television and the internet has begun. Despite all of this, it will still be a long time before one can talk about a simple and easy-to-use digital living room

Network-Assisted Handover for Heterogeneous Wireless Networks using IEEE 802.21

The IEEE 802.21 is a standard for enabling handover in heterogeneous wireless networks. Published in January 2009, it defines protocols and messages for mobile-to-node and node-to-node communication in a technology-neutral and flexible manner. The need arises because of the widespread diffusion of different technologies for wireless communications (e.g., WiFi, WiMAX, LTE) coexisting in the same geographical area. Even though the number of multi-radio multi-technology mobile devices is increasing significantly, there are no open solutions in the market to enable efficient inter-technology handover. As is often the case with communication standards, the structure of the required components, the procedures, and the algorithms are left unspecified by the IEEE 802.21 standard so as to promote competion by differentiation of equipment capabilities and services. The contribution of this thesis is two-fold: i) a design and an implemenation of the Media Independent Information Service (MIIS) server; and, ii) a solution to enable network-assisted handover using the IEEE 802.21 standard, aimed at reducing the handover latency and the energy consumption of mobile devices due to scanning. The MIIS server has been fully implemented in C++ under Linux. In order to perform testbed evaluations, all the required components have been implemented, as well, within an open source framework for IEEE 802.21 called ODTONE. Modifications to the latter have been performed for optimization and fine tuning, and for extending those functional modules needed but not fully implemented. For a realistic evaluation, Linux-based embedded COTS devices have been used, equipped with multiple IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11g wireless network interface cards. This has required additional development for kernel/user space binding and hardware control. Testbed results are reported to show the effectiveness of the proposed solution, also proving the MIIS server scalability

The Communicating Home - Definition, Evaluation and Business Opportunities for TeliaSonera in a 3-5 years perspective

The communicating home concept has been defined by identifying the dominating communication technologies to/from and in the homes, the most important customer behavior and user needs, the dominating products and the dominating actors of the industry. The evaluation of the communicating home industry has been performed with a five forces framework analysis and theories regarding value migration and value structures of industries. It has been concluded that actors of communication technologies, goods and access services will compete fiercely. The barriers of entry will however be high. When it comes to content services the situation is completely different. These actors will, to the largest extent, meet lower competition and low barriers of entry. As a consequence a value migration from communication technologies, goods and access services to content services will occur. TeliaSonera is suggested to develop a content service portal. It should, in its first version, contain IPTV, music on demand, video on demand, data security, online storing and online gaming in the first place. The TeliaSonera group has the right prerequisites to implement and capitalize on a content service portal. In addition to the content service portal some other business opportunities have also been addressed in the business model

Path Loss Modeling of WLAN and WiMAX Systems

With the advancement in technology, there was need for efficient and high speed internet through which we could have access to multiple networks as per the user requirement. WLAN met this need to some extent but, due to its low range it was not recommended commercially. With the introduction of WiMAX there was an emerging need to select the best network amongst WiMAX or WLAN depending upon the user location. Pathloss with respect to these particular networks also needs to be compared. In this paper we compare the pathloss modelling for WiMAX and WLAN systems. Different Models have been compared with each other to know which model performs better by keeping same simulation environment. Path Loss models used for WLAN are Okumura, Hata, Cost-231 and Free Space Path Loss whereas models used for WiMAX are Free Space Path Loss, Okumura-Hata, Cost231-Hata and Stanford University Interim. In case of WiMAX three different scenarios Urban, Sub-Urban and Rural is considered where as in case of WLAN only outdoor environment is considered. With the Path Loss comparison, power received for these two technologies; WiMAX, and WLAN is also simulated. MATLAB is the tool used for simulations. Antenna Specifications for WiMAX and WLAN is kept same for all simulation environments