Multicast Group Membership Management in Media Independent Handover Services

Abstract Currently we are witnessing an explosion of devices able to connect to a variety of wired and wireless access network technologies. This connectivity is increasingly integrating networks composed by sensors, actuators and even utility devices that use private and public networks to relay important information and measurements. The deployment of the so-called Smart Grid technologies allied to the rise of Machine-to-Machine communications require new mechanisms to optimally manage the change of point of attachment to the network of these huge clouds of nodes, assisting in tackling the scale of the problem. With this problematic in mind, the IEEE 802.21 WG started on March 2012 a new project, named IEEE 802.21d, Group Management Services. This amendment establishes the required changes to the original specification, in order to manage the mobility of groups of nodes. This work follows closely the progress of the Task Group on the use cases, requirements and gap analysis, providing in addition a potential solution, integrating new group mechanisms, extensions to the MIH Protocol and associated security enhancements. This solution has been implemented and validated in a custom built testbed, with results showing that the utilisation of Group Control procedures through multicast signalling achieves a lower cost when compared with unicast signalling, in group handover and sensor information dissemination scenarios

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

Avaliação de desempenho e mobilidade em redes auto-organizadas

Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e TelemáticaAs redes móveis ad hoc (ou auto-organizadas) são um assunto que nos últimos anos tem ganho muita atenção da comunidade científica. Os problemas associados a este tipo de redes foram amplamente estudados e expostos, foram propostas soluções, e algumas até foram tornadas um padrão da indústria. No entanto, a grande maioria do trabalho realizado, é dedicado a resolver só um problema de cada vez. Da mesma forma, as soluções que são testadas por forma a verificar a sua validade, muitas das vezes, são testadas recorrendo a trabalho de simulação. Uma parte do trabalho que é apresentado nesta dissertação de mestrado, junta uma série de protocolos desenvolvidos para redes ad hoc, os quais providenciam funcionalidades como: auto configuração, encaminhamento unicast e multicast, qualidade de serviço e taxação com incentivos numa única solução integrada que interliga as redes ad hoc a redes infra-estruturadas funcionando como uma extensão das mesmas. O demonstrador criado é avaliado de forma experimental, e os resultados obtidos são apresentados e discutidos. Uma vez que a rede ad hoc está interligada à rede infra-estruturada, num ambiente de quarta geração, é também apresentada uma arquitectura que suporta mobilidade de nós entre redes ad hoc e as redes infra-estuturadas que fazem parte do ambiente heterogéneo, e de este para as redes ad hoc é apresentada. A rede geral onde a rede ad hoc é integrada suporta novas tecnologias e tendências em gestão de mobilidade, tais como o protocolo em desenvolvimento IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover e gestão de mobilidade baseada em Domínios de Mobilidade Local. A forma como a rede ad hoc se integra com as tecnologias presentes na rede infra-estruturada, e como as especificidades da rede ad hoc são escondidas, é descrita e explicada. ABSTRACT: Mobile Ad hoc network is a subject that has gained lots of attention from the research community in recent years. The problems inherent to this types of networks have been studied and exposed, solutions have been created and even standardized. However, the vast majority of the work performed is dedicated to only one problem at the time. In addition, the tests performed to validate the produced solutions are, most of the times, obtained through simulation work. The work presented in this thesis gathers together a set of ad hoc protocols, providing functionalities such as auto-configuration, unicast and multicast routing, quality of service and charging and rewarding in one integrated testbed, serving as a stub network in a hotspot scenario. A experimental evaluation is performed, and results are presented and discussed. Additionally, since the network belongs to a hotspot of fourth generation, a architecture that supports mobility of nodes between the ad hoc network and infrastructure networks is presented. The general network that includes ad hoc network integrates and supports the new technologies and tendencies in mobility management, such as the IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover and mobility management based on Local Mobility Domains. The way the MANET fully integrates with the infrastructure network, and how the ad hoc networks specific characteristics are hidden, is also presented and explained

Middleware de comunicações para a internet móvel futura

Doutoramento em Informática (MAP-I)A evolução constante em novas tecnologias que providenciam suporte à forma como os nossos dispositivos se ligam, bem como a forma como utilizamos diferentes capacidades e serviços on-line, criou um conjunto sem precedentes de novos desafios que motivam o desenvolvimento de uma recente área de investigação, denominada de Internet Futura. Nesta nova área de investigação, novos aspectos arquiteturais estão ser desenvolvidos, os quais, através da re-estruturação de componentes nucleares subjacentesa que compõem a Internet, progride-a de uma forma capaz de não são fazer face a estes novos desafios, mas também de a preparar para os desafios de amanhã. Aspectos chave pertencendo a este conjunto de desafios são os ambientes de rede heterogéneos compostos por diferentes tipos de redes de acesso, a cada vez maior mudança do tráfego peer-to-peer (P2P) como o tipo de tráfego mais utilizado na Internet, a orquestração de cenários da Internet das Coisas (IoT) que exploram mecanismos de interação Maquinaa-Maquina (M2M), e a utilização de mechanismos centrados na informação (ICN). Esta tese apresenta uma nova arquitetura capaz de simultaneamente fazer face a estes desafios, evoluindo os procedimentos de conectividade e entidades envolvidas, através da adição de uma camada de middleware, que age como um mecanismo de gestão de controlo avançado. Este mecanismo de gestão de controlo aproxima as entidades de alto nível (tais como serviços, aplicações, entidades de gestão de mobilidade, operações de encaminhamento, etc.) com as componentes das camadas de baixo nível (por exemplo, camadas de ligação, sensores e atuadores), permitindo uma otimização conjunta dos procedimentos de ligação subjacentes. Os resultados obtidos não só sublinham a flexibilidade dos mecanismos que compoem a arquitetura, mas também a sua capacidade de providenciar aumentos de performance quando comparados com outras soluÇÕes de funcionamento especÍfico, enquanto permite um maior leque de cenáios e aplicações.The constant evolution in new technologies that support the way our devices are able to connect, as well the way we use available on-line services and capabilities, has created a set of unprecedented new challenges that motivated the development of a recent research trend known as the Future Internet. In this research trend, new architectural aspects are being developed which, through the restructure of underlying core aspects composing the Internet, reshapes it in a way capable of not only facing these new challenges, but also preparing it to tackle tomorrow’s new set of complex issues. Key aspects belonging to this set of challenges are heterogeneous networking environments composed by di↵erent kinds of wireless access networks, the evergrowing change from peer-to-peer (P2P) to video as the most used kind of traffic in the Internet, the orchestration of Internet of Things (IoT) scenarios exploiting Machine-to-Machine (M2M) interactions, and the usage of Information-Centric Networking (ICN). This thesis presents a novel framework able to simultaneous tackle these challenges, empowering connectivity procedures and entities with a middleware acting as an advanced control management mechanism. This control management mechanism brings together both high-level entities (such as application services, mobility management entities, routing operations, etc.) with the lower layer components (e.g., link layers, sensor devices, actuators), allowing for a joint optimization of the underlying connectivity and operational procedures. Results highlight not only the flexibility of the mechanisms composing the framework, but also their ability in providing performance increases when compared with other specific purpose solutions, while allowing a wider range of scenarios and deployment possibilities

Supporting mobility in an IMS-based P2P IPTV service: A proactive context transfer mechanism

In recent years, IPTV has received an increasing amount of interest from the industry, commercial providers and the research community, alike. In this context, standardization bodies, such as ETSI and ITU-T, are specifying the architecture of IPTV systems based on IP multicast. An interesting alternative to support the IPTV service delivery relies on the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) paradigm to distribute and push the streaming effort towards the network edge. However, while P2P IPTV was studied in fixed access technologies, there has been little attention paid to the implications arising in mobile environments. One of these involves the service handover when the user moves to a different network. By analyzing previous work from the perspective of an IPTV service, we concluded that a proactive approach is necessary for the handling of inter-network handovers. In this paper, we propose a new general handover mechanism for the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), while studying its applicability to a P2P IPTV service. Our solution, called proactive context transfer service, incorporates the existing IEEE 802.21 technology in order to minimize the handover delay. The proposal is validated by comparing it against solutions derived from previous work.This article has been partially granted by the Spanish MEC through the CONPARTE project (TEC2007–67966-C03–03/TCM) and by the Madrid Community through the MEDIANET project (S-2009/TIC-1468).Publicad

Distribuição de vídeo para grupos de utilizadores em redes móveis heterogéneas19

The evolutions veri ed in mobile devices capabilities (storage capacity, screen resolution, processor, etc.) over the last years led to a signi cant change in mobile user behavior, with the consumption and creation of multimedia content becoming more common, in particular video tra c. Consequently, mobile operator networks, despite being the target of architectural evolutions and improvements over several parameters (such as capacity, transmission and reception performance, amongst others), also increasingly become more frequently challenged by performance aspects associated to the nature of video tra c, whether by the demanding requirements associated to that service, or by its volume increase in such networks. This Thesis proposes modi cations to the mobile architecture towards a more e cient video broadcasting, de ning and developing mechanisms applicable to the network, or to the mobile terminal. Particularly, heterogeneous networks multicast IP mobility supported scenarios are focused, emphasizing their application over di erent access technologies. The suggested changes are applicable to mobile or static user scenarios, whether it performs the role of receiver or source of the video tra c. Similarly, the de ned mechanisms propose solutions targeting operators with di erent video broadcasting goals, or whose networks have di erent characteristics. The pursued methodology combined an experimental evaluation executed over physical testbeds, with the mathematical evaluation using network simulation, allowing the veri cation of its impact on the optimization of video reception in mobile terminalsA evolução veri cada nas características dos dispositivos moveis (capacidade de armazenamento, resolução do ecrã, processador, etc.) durante os últimos anos levou a uma alteração signi cativa nos comportamentos dos utilizadores, sendo agora comum o consumo e produção de conteúdos multimédia envolvendo terminais móveis, em particular o tráfego vídeo. Consequentemente, as redes de operador móvel, embora tendo também sido alvo constante de evoluções arquitecturais e melhorias em vários parâmetros (tais como capacidade, ritmo de transmissão/recepção, entre outros), vêemse cada vez mais frequentemente desa adas por aspectos de desempenho associados à natureza do tráfego de vídeo, seja pela exigência de requisitos associados a esse serviço, quer pelo aumento do volume do mesmo nesse tipo de redes. Esta Tese propôe alterações à arquitetura móvel para a disseminação de vídeo mais e ciente, de nindo e desenvolvendo mecanismos aplicáveis à rede, ou ao utilizador móvel. Em particular, são focados cenários suportados por IP multicast em redes móveis heterogéneas, isto é, com ênfase na aplicação destes mecanismos sobre diferentes tecnologias de acesso. As alterações sugeridas aplicam-se a cenários de utilizador estático ou móvel, sendo este a fonte ou receptor do tráfego vídeo. Da mesma forma, são propostas soluções tendo em vista operadores com diferentes objectivos de disseminação de vídeo, ou cujas redes têm diferentes características. A metodologia utilizada combinou a avaliação experimental em testbeds físicas com a avaliação matemática em simulações de redes, e permitiu veri car o impacto sobre a optimização da recepção de vídeo em terminais móveisPrograma Doutoral em Telecomunicaçõe

Integration of unidirectional technologies into wireless back-haul architecture

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Docter of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Back-haul infrastructures of today's wireless operators must support the triple-play services demanded by the market or regulatory bodies. To cope with increasing capacity demand, the EU FP7 project CARMEN has developed a cost-effective heterogeneous multi-radio wireless back-haul architecture, which may also leverage the native multicast capabilities of broadcast technologies such as DVB-T to off-load high-bandwidth broadcast content delivery. However, the integration of such unidirectional technologies into a packet-switched architecture requires careful considerations. The contribution of this thesis is the investigation, design and evaluation of protocols and mechanisms facilitating the integration of such unidirectional technologies into the wireless back-haul architecture so that they can be configured and utilized by the spectrum and capacity optimization modules. This integration mainly concerns the control plane and, in particular, the aspects related to resource and capability descriptions, neighborhood, link and Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Label-Switched Path (LSP) monitoring, unicast and multicast LSP signalling as well as topology forming and maintenance. During the course of this study we have analyzed the problem space, proposed solutions to the resulting research questions and evaluated our approach. Our results show that the now Unidirectional Technology (UDT)-aware architecture can readily consider Unidirectional Technologies (UDTs) to distribute, for example, broadcast content

Multi-Service Group Key Establishment for Secure Wireless Mobile Multicast Networks

yesRecently there is high demand in distributing multimedia services over the internet to ubiquitous and computational intelligent mobile subscribers by the service providers (SPs). In this instance, provision of those services must be restricted to authorized subscribers via integration of authentication and group key management (GKM). GKM with diverse group services subscribed dynamically by moving subscribers in wireless networks has been omitted in conventional approaches. However it is expected that significant key management overhead will arise in them due to multi-services co-existing in the same network. In this paper, we propose a scalable decentralized multi-service GKM scheme considering host mobility in wireless environment. In the scheme, authentication of mobile subscribers and key management phases are delegated from the trusted domain key distributor (DKD) to the subgroup controllers known as area key distributors (AKD). The trusted intermediate AKDs can then establish and distribute the service group keys to valid subscribers in a distributed manner using identity-based encryption without involving the domain key distributor (DKD). This alleviates unnecessary delays and possible bottlenecks at the DKD. We show by simulation that the proposed scheme has some unique scalability properties over known schemes in terms of optimized rekeying communication and storage overheads. The security performance studies have shown resilience to various attacks