A Framework for Quality-Driven Delivery in Distributed Multimedia Systems

In this paper, we propose a framework for Quality-Driven Delivery (QDD) in distributed multimedia environments. Quality-driven delivery refers to the capacity of a system to deliver documents, or more generally objects, while considering the users expectations in terms of non-functional requirements. For this QDD framework, we propose a model-driven approach where we focus on QoS information modeling and transformation. QoS information models and meta-models are used during different QoS activities for mapping requirements to system constraints, for exchanging QoS information, for checking compatibility between QoS information and more generally for making QoS decisions. We also investigate which model transformation operators have to be implemented in order to support some QoS activities such as QoS mapping

Optimization flow control -- I: Basic algorithm and convergence

We propose an optimization approach to flow control where the objective is to maximize the aggregate source utility over their transmission rates. We view network links and sources as processors of a distributed computation system to solve the dual problem using a gradient projection algorithm. In this system, sources select transmission rates that maximize their own benefits, utility minus bandwidth cost, and network links adjust bandwidth prices to coordinate the sources' decisions. We allow feedback delays to be different, substantial, and time varying, and links and sources to update at different times and with different frequencies. We provide asynchronous distributed algorithms and prove their convergence in a static environment. We present measurements obtained from a preliminary prototype to illustrate the convergence of the algorithm in a slowly time-varying environment. We discuss its fairness property

Effective video multicast over wireless internet

With the rapid growth of wireless networks and great success of Internet video, wireless video services are expected to be widely deployed in the near future. As different types of wireless networks are converging into all IP networks, i.e., the Internet, it is important to study video delivery over the wireless Internet. This paper proposes a novel end-system based adaptation protocol calledWireless Hybrid Adaptation Layered Multicast (WHALM) protocol for layered video multicast over wireless Internet. In WHALM the sender dynamically collects bandwidth distribution from the receivers and uses an optimal layer rate allocation mechanism to reduce the mismatches between the coarse-grained layer subscription levels and the heterogeneous and dynamic rate requirements from the receivers, thus maximizing the degree of satisfaction of all the receivers in a multicast session. Based on sampling theory and theory of probability, we reduce the required number of bandwidth feedbacks to a reasonable degree and use a scalable feedback mechanism to control the feedback process practically. WHALM is also tuned to perform well in wireless networks by integrating an end-to-end loss differentiation algorithm (LDA) to differentiate error losses from congestion losses at the receiver side. With a series of simulation experiments over NS platform, WHALM has been proved to be able to greatly improve the degree of satisfaction of all the receivers while avoiding congestion collapse on the wireless Internet

Energy-efficient wireless communication

In this chapter we present an energy-efficient highly adaptive network interface architecture and a novel data link layer protocol for wireless networks that provides Quality of Service (QoS) support for diverse traffic types. Due to the dynamic nature of wireless networks, adaptations in bandwidth scheduling and error control are necessary to achieve energy efficiency and an acceptable quality of service. In our approach we apply adaptability through all layers of the protocol stack, and provide feedback to the applications. In this way the applications can adapt the data streams, and the network protocols can adapt the communication parameters

Resource and Application Models for Advanced Grid Schedulers

As Grid computing is becoming an inevitable future, managing, scheduling and monitoring dynamic, heterogeneous resources will present new challenges. Solutions will have to be agile and adaptive, support self-organization and autonomous management, while maintaining optimal resource utilisation. Presented in this paper are basic principles and architectural concepts for efficient resource allocation in heterogeneous Grid environment

The distributed ASCI supercomputer project

The Distributed ASCI Supercomputer (DAS) is a homogeneous wide-area distributed system consisting of four cluster computers at different locations. DAS has been used for research on communication software, parallel languages and programming systems, schedulers, parallel applications, and distributed applications. The paper gives a preview of the most interesting research results obtained so far in the DAS project

Octopus - an energy-efficient architecture for wireless multimedia systems

Multimedia computing and mobile computing are two trends that will lead to a new application domain in the near future. However, the technological challenges to establishing this paradigm of computing are non-trivial. Personal mobile computing offers a vision of the future with a much richer and more exciting set of architecture research challenges than extrapolations of the current desktop architectures. In particular, these devices will have limited battery resources, will handle diverse data types, and will operate in environments that are insecure, dynamic and which vary significantly in time and location. The approach we made to achieve such a system is to use autonomous, adaptable modules, interconnected by a switch rather than by a bus, and to offload as much as work as possible from the CPU to programmable modules that is placed in the data streams. A reconfigurable internal communication network switch called Octopus exploits locality of reference and eliminates wasteful data copies

Multiplexing regulated traffic streams: design and performance

The main network solutions for supporting QoS rely on traf- fic policing (conditioning, shaping). In particular, for IP networks the IETF has developed Intserv (individual flows regulated) and Diffserv (only ag- gregates regulated). The regulator proposed could be based on the (dual) leaky-bucket mechanism. This explains the interest in network element per- formance (loss, delay) for leaky-bucket regulated traffic. This paper describes a novel approach to the above problem. Explicitly using the correlation structure of the sources’ traffic, we derive approxi- mations for both small and large buffers. Importantly, for small (large) buffers the short-term (long-term) correlations are dominant. The large buffer result decomposes the traffic stream in a stream of constant rate and a periodic impulse stream, allowing direct application of the Brownian bridge approximation. Combining the small and large buffer results by a concave majorization, we propose a simple, fast and accurate technique to statistically multiplex homogeneous regulated sources. To address heterogeneous inputs, we present similarly efficient tech- niques to evaluate the performance of multiple classes of traffic, each with distinct characteristics and QoS requirements. These techniques, applica- ble under more general conditions, are based on optimal resource (band- width and buffer) partitioning. They can also be directly applied to set GPS (Generalized Processor Sharing) weights and buffer thresholds in a shared resource system