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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
Federated and autonomic management of multimedia services
Over the years, the Internet has significantly evolved in size and complexity. Additionally, the modern multimedia services it offers have considerably more stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements than traditional static services. These factors contribute to the ever-increasing complexity and cost to manage the Internet and its services. In the dissertation, a novel network management architecture is proposed to overcome these problems. It supports QoS-guarantees of multimedia services across the Internet, by setting up end-to-end network federations. A network federation is defined as a persistent cross-organizational agreement that enables the cooperating networks to share capabilities. Additionally, the architecture incorporates aspects from autonomic network management to tackle the ever-growing management complexity of modern communications networks. Specifically, a hierarchical approach is presented, which guarantees scalable collaboration of huge amounts of self-governing autonomic management components
On service optimization in community network micro-clouds
Cotutela Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya i KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyInternet coverage in the world is still weak and local communities are required to come together and build their own network infrastructures. People collaborate for the common goal of accessing the Internet and cloud services by building Community networks (CNs).
The use of Internet cloud services has grown over the last decade. Community network cloud infrastructures (i.e. micro-clouds) have been introduced to run services inside the network, without the need to consume them from the Internet.
CN micro-clouds aims for not only an improved service performance, but also an entry point for an alternative to Internet cloud services in CNs.
However, the adaptation of the services to be used in CN micro-clouds have their own challenges since the use of low-capacity devices and wireless connections without a central management is predominant in CNs. Further, large and irregular topology of the network, high software and hardware diversity and different service requirements in CNs, makes the CN micro-clouds a challenging environment to run local services, and to achieve service performance and quality similar to Internet cloud services.
In this thesis, our main objective is the optimization of services (performance, quality) in CN micro-clouds, facilitating entrance to other services and motivating members to make use of CN micro-cloud services as an alternative to Internet services.
We present an approach to handle services in CN micro-cloud environments in order to improve service performance and quality that can be approximated to Internet services, while also giving to the community motivation to use CN micro-cloud services.
Furthermore, we break the problem into different levels (resource, service and middleware), propose a model that provides improvements for each level and contribute with information that helps to support the improvements (in terms of service performance and quality) in the other levels.
At the resource level, we facilitate the use of community devices by utilizing virtualization techniques that isolate and manage CN micro-cloud services in order to have a multi-purpose environment that fosters services in the CN micro-cloud environment.
At the service level, we build a monitoring tool tailored for CN micro-clouds that helps us to analyze service behavior and performance in CN micro-clouds. Subsequently, the information gathered enables adaptation of the services to the environment in order to improve their quality and performance under CN environments.
At the middleware level, we build overlay networks as the main communication system according to the social information in order to improve paths and routes of the nodes, and improve transmission of data across the network by utilizing the relationships already established in the social network or community of practices that are related to the CNs. Therefore, service performance in CN micro-clouds can become more stable with respect to resource usage, performance and user perceived quality.Acceder a Internet sigue siendo un reto en muchas partes del mundo y las comunidades locales se ven en la necesidad de colaborar para construir sus propias infraestructuras de red. Los usuarios colaboran por el objetivo comĂşn de acceder a Internet y a los servicios en la nube construyendo redes comunitarias (RC). El uso de servicios de Internet en la nube ha crecido durante la Ăşltima dĂ©cada. Las infraestructuras de nube en redes comunitarias (i.e., micronubes) han aparecido para albergar servicios dentro de las mismas redes, sin tener que acceder a Internet para usarlos. Las micronubes de las RC no solo tienen por objetivo ofrecer un mejor rendimiento, sino tambiĂ©n ser la puerta de entrada en las RC hacia una alternativa a los servicios de Internet en la nube. Sin embargo, la adaptaciĂłn de los servicios para ser usados en micronubes de RC conlleva sus retos ya que el uso de dispositivos de recursos limitados y de conexiones inalámbricas sin una gestiĂłn centralizada predominan en las RC. Más aĂşn, la amplia e irregular topologĂa de la red, la diversidad en el hardware y el software y los diferentes requisitos de los servicios en RC convierten en un desafĂo albergar servicios locales en micronubes de RC y obtener un rendimiento y una calidad del servicio comparables a los servicios de Internet en la nube. Esta tesis tiene por objetivo la optimizaciĂłn de servicios (rendimiento, calidad) en micronubes de RC, facilitando la entrada a otros servicios y motivando a sus miembros a usar los servicios en la micronube de RC como una alternativa a los servicios en Internet. Presentamos una aproximaciĂłn para gestionar los servicios en entornos de micronube de RC para mejorar su rendimiento y calidad comparable a los servicios en Internet, a la vez que proporcionamos a la comunidad motivaciĂłn para usar los servicios de micronube en RC. Además, dividimos el problema en distintos niveles (recursos, servicios y middleware), proponemos un modelo que proporciona mejoras para cada nivel y contribuye con informaciĂłn que apoya las mejoras (en tĂ©rminos de rendimiento y calidad de los servicios) en los otros niveles. En el nivel de los recursos, facilitamos el uso de dispositivos comunitarios al emplear tĂ©cnicas de virtualizaciĂłn que aĂslan y gestionan los servicios en micronubes de RC para obtener un entorno multipropĂłsito que fomenta los servicios en el entorno de micronube de RC. En el nivel de servicio, construimos una herramienta de monitorizaciĂłn a la medida de las micronubes de RC que nos ayuda a analizar el comportamiento de los servicios y su rendimiento en micronubes de RC. Luego, la informaciĂłn recopilada permite adaptar los servicios al entorno para mejorar su calidad y rendimiento bajo las condiciones de una RC. En el nivel de middleware, construimos redes de overlay que actĂşan como el sistema de comunicaciĂłn principal de acuerdo a informaciĂłn social para mejorar los caminos y las rutas de los nodos y mejoramos la transmisiĂłn de datos a lo largo de la red al utilizar las relaciones preestablecidas en la red social o la comunidad de prácticas que están relacionadas con las RC. De este modo, el rendimiento en las micronubes de RC puede devenir más estable respecto al uso de recursos, el rendimiento y la calidad percibidas por el usuario.Postprint (published version
Ontwerp en evaluatie van content distributie netwerken voor multimediale streaming diensten.
Traditionele Internetgebaseerde diensten voor het verspreiden van bestanden, zoals Web browsen en het versturen van e-mails, worden aangeboden via één centrale server. Meer recente netwerkdiensten zoals interactieve digitale televisie of video-op-aanvraag vereisen echter hoge kwaliteitsgaranties (QoS), zoals een lage en constante netwerkvertraging, en verbruiken een aanzienlijke hoeveelheid bandbreedte op het netwerk. Architecturen met één centrale server kunnen deze garanties moeilijk bieden en voldoen daarom niet meer aan de hoge eisen van de volgende generatie multimediatoepassingen. In dit onderzoek worden daarom nieuwe netwerkarchitecturen bestudeerd, die een dergelijke dienstkwaliteit kunnen ondersteunen. Zowel peer-to-peer mechanismes, zoals bij het uitwisselen van muziekbestanden tussen eindgebruikers, als servergebaseerde oplossingen, zoals gedistribueerde caches en content distributie netwerken (CDN's), komen aan bod. Afhankelijk van de bestudeerde dienst en de gebruikte netwerktechnologieën en -architectuur, worden gecentraliseerde algoritmen voor netwerkontwerp voorgesteld. Deze algoritmen optimaliseren de plaatsing van de servers of netwerkcaches en bepalen de nodige capaciteit van de servers en netwerklinks. De dynamische plaatsing van de aangeboden bestanden in de verschillende netwerkelementen wordt aangepast aan de heersende staat van het netwerk en aan de variërende aanvraagpatronen van de eindgebruikers. Serverselectie, herroutering van aanvragen en het verspreiden van de belasting over het hele netwerk komen hierbij ook aan bod
Incentive-driven QoS in peer-to-peer overlays
A well known problem in peer-to-peer overlays is that no single entity has control over the software,
hardware and configuration of peers. Thus, each peer can selfishly adapt its behaviour to maximise its
benefit from the overlay. This thesis is concerned with the modelling and design of incentive mechanisms
for QoS-overlays: resource allocation protocols that provide strategic peers with participation incentives,
while at the same time optimising the performance of the peer-to-peer distribution overlay.
The contributions of this thesis are as follows. First, we present PledgeRoute, a novel contribution
accounting system that can be used, along with a set of reciprocity policies, as an incentive mechanism
to encourage peers to contribute resources even when users are not actively consuming overlay services.
This mechanism uses a decentralised credit network, is resilient to sybil attacks, and allows peers to
achieve time and space deferred contribution reciprocity. Then, we present a novel, QoS-aware resource
allocation model based on Vickrey auctions that uses PledgeRoute as a substrate. It acts as an incentive
mechanism by providing efficient overlay construction, while at the same time allocating increasing
service quality to those peers that contribute more to the network. The model is then applied to lagsensitive
chunk swarming, and some of its properties are explored for different peer delay distributions.
When considering QoS overlays deployed over the best-effort Internet, the quality received by a
client cannot be adjudicated completely to either its serving peer or the intervening network between
them. By drawing parallels between this situation and well-known hidden action situations in microeconomics,
we propose a novel scheme to ensure adherence to advertised QoS levels. We then apply
it to delay-sensitive chunk distribution overlays and present the optimal contract payments required,
along with a method for QoS contract enforcement through reciprocative strategies. We also present a
probabilistic model for application-layer delay as a function of the prevailing network conditions.
Finally, we address the incentives of managed overlays, and the prediction of their behaviour. We
propose two novel models of multihoming managed overlay incentives in which overlays can freely
allocate their traffic flows between different ISPs. One is obtained by optimising an overlay utility
function with desired properties, while the other is designed for data-driven least-squares fitting of the
cross elasticity of demand. This last model is then used to solve for ISP profit maximisation
Comparative Analysis of P2P Architectures for Energy Trading and Sharing
Rising awareness and emergence of smart technologies have inspired new thinking in energy system management. Whilst integration of distributed energy resources in micro-grids (MGs) has become the technique of choice for consumers to generate their energy, it also provides a unique opportunity to explore energy trading and sharing amongst them. This paper investigates peer-to-peer (P2P) communication architectures for prosumers’ energy trading and sharing. The performances of common P2P protocols are evaluated under the stringent communication requirements of energy networks defined in IEEE 1547.3-2007. Simulation results show that the structured P2P protocol exhibits a reliability of 99.997% in peer discovery and message delivery whilst the unstructured P2P protocol yields 98%, both of which are consistent with the requirements of MG applications. These two architectures exhibit high scalability with a latency of 0.5 s at a relatively low bandwidth consumption, thus, showing promising potential in their adoption for prosumer to prosumer communication
A Taxonomy of Data Grids for Distributed Data Sharing, Management and Processing
Data Grids have been adopted as the platform for scientific communities that
need to share, access, transport, process and manage large data collections
distributed worldwide. They combine high-end computing technologies with
high-performance networking and wide-area storage management techniques. In
this paper, we discuss the key concepts behind Data Grids and compare them with
other data sharing and distribution paradigms such as content delivery
networks, peer-to-peer networks and distributed databases. We then provide
comprehensive taxonomies that cover various aspects of architecture, data
transportation, data replication and resource allocation and scheduling.
Finally, we map the proposed taxonomy to various Data Grid systems not only to
validate the taxonomy but also to identify areas for future exploration.
Through this taxonomy, we aim to categorise existing systems to better
understand their goals and their methodology. This would help evaluate their
applicability for solving similar problems. This taxonomy also provides a "gap
analysis" of this area through which researchers can potentially identify new
issues for investigation. Finally, we hope that the proposed taxonomy and
mapping also helps to provide an easy way for new practitioners to understand
this complex area of research.Comment: 46 pages, 16 figures, Technical Repor
Development of a system compliant with the Application-Layer Traffic Optimization Protocol
Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia InformáticaWith the ever-increasing Internet usage that is following the start of the new decade,
the need to optimize this world-scale network of computers becomes a big priority
in the technological sphere that has the number of users rising, as are the Quality of
Service (QoS) demands by applications in domains such as media streaming or virtual
reality.
In the face of rising traffic and stricter application demands, a better understand ing of how Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should manage their assets is needed. An
important concern regards to how applications utilize the underlying network infras tructure over which they reside. Most of these applications act with little regard for
ISP preferences, as exemplified by their lack of care in achieving traffic locality during
their operation, which would be a preferable feature for network administrators, and
that could also improve application performance. However, even a best-effort attempt
by applications to cooperate will hardly succeed if ISP policies aren’t clearly commu nicated to them. Therefore, a system to bridge layer interests has much potential in
helping achieve a mutually beneficial scenario.
The main focus of this thesis is the Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) work ing group, which was formed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to explore
standardizations for network information retrieval. This group specified a request response protocol where authoritative entities provide resources containing network
status information and administrative preferences. Sharing of infrastructural insight
is done with the intent of enabling a cooperative environment, between the network
overlay and underlay, during application operations, to obtain better infrastructural re sourcefulness and the consequential minimization of the associated operational costs.
This work gives an overview of the historical network tussle between applications
and service providers, presents the ALTO working group’s project as a solution, im plements an extended system built upon their ideas, and finally verifies the developed
system’s efficiency, in a simulation, when compared to classical alternatives.Com o acrescido uso da Internet que acompanha o inĂcio da nova dĂ©cada, a necessidade de otimizar esta rede global de computadores passa a ser uma grande prioridade
na esfera tecnolĂłgica que vĂŞ o seu nĂşmero de utilizadores a aumentar, assim como a
exigência, por parte das aplicações, de novos padrões de Qualidade de Serviço (QoS),
como visto em domĂnios de transmissĂŁo de conteĂşdo multimĂ©dia em tempo real e em
experiĂŞncias de realidade virtual.
Face ao aumento de tráfego e aos padrões de exigência aplicacional mais restritos, é
necessário melhor compreender como os fornecedores de serviços Internet (ISPs) devem
gerir os seus recursos. Um ponto fulcral é como aplicações utilizam os seus recursos
da rede, onde muitas destas não têm consideração pelas preferências dos ISPs, como
exemplificado pela sua falta de esforço em localizar tráfego, onde o contrário seria
preferĂvel por administradores de rede e teria potencial para melhorar o desempenho
aplicacional. Uma tentativa de melhor esforço, por parte das aplicações, em resolver
este problema, não será bem-sucedida se as preferências administrativas não forem
claramente comunicadas. Portanto, um sistema que sirva de ponte de comunicação
entre camadas pode potenciar um cenário mutuamente benéfico.
O foco principal desta tese Ă© o grupo de trabalho Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO), que foi formado pelo Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) para explorar
estandardizações para recolha de informação da rede. Este grupo especificou um protocolo onde entidades autoritárias disponibilizam recursos com informação de estado
de rede, e preferĂŞncias administrativas. A partilha de conhecimento infraestrutural
Ă© feita para possibilitar um ambiente cooperativo entre redes overlay e underlay, para
uma mais eficiente utilização de recursos e a consequente minimização de custos operacionais.
É pretendido dar uma visão da histórica disputa entre aplicações e ISPs, assim como
apresentar o projeto do grupo de trabalho ALTO como solução, implementar e melhorar sobre as suas ideias, e finalmente verificar a eficiência do sistema numa simulação,
quando comparado com alternativas clássicas
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