A Long-Term Rate Scheduling Framework for Bulk Data Multicast Dissemination in Hybrid Heterogeneous Satellite-Terrestrial Networks

We study a problem of long-term rate control for multicasting bulk data to heterogeneous receivers through hybrid satellite-terrestrial networks. By setting one of the control parameters called the {em 'knob'}, our proposed multicast rate control systems can trade off between multicast bandwidth requirement, which is the administrative issue, and reception latency, which is the users' satisfaction issue. Through a proactive use of the forward error correction (FEC) in the form of Reed-Solomon erasure (RSE) correcting codes, our proposed multicast rate control can also probabilistically guarantee reception reliability. In this dissertation, there are four contributions. One, our real experiments on a hybrid satellite-terrestrial internet channel that result in our proposed Gaussian approximation approach. Two, our proposed end-to-end version of the multicast rate control system which utilizes the Gaussian approximation approach. Three, our study on the issues of multicast traffic's co-existence with terrestrial TCP background traffic. Four, our proposed two-staged version of the multicast rate control system which also utilizes the Gaussian approximation approach and allows significantly improved scalability. We validate our proposed systems through simulations, some of which are trace-driven using real satellite traffic traces. We have found our proposed mechanisms to be very effective.There are a variety of applications for our proposed multicast rate control systems. Some examples include: a military application where commands or strategic information need to be disseminated at different priorities, a financial application where a faster access to certain key information can make a difference in profitability, and a news application where news-related contents such as images, weather, headlines are to be disseminated based on their urgency.Keywords: satellite multicast, reliable multicast, forward error correction (FEC), multicast rate control, Gaussian approximatio

Reliable multicast transport by satellite: a hybrid satellite/terrestrial solution with erasure codes

Geostationary satellites are an efficient way to provide a large scale multipoint communication service. In the context of reliable multicast communications, a new hybrid satellite/terrestrial approach is proposed. It aims at reducing the overall communication cost using satellite broadcasting only when enough receivers are present, and terrestrial transmissions otherwise. This approach has been statistically evaluated for a particular cost function and seems interesting. Then since the hybrid approach relies on Forward Error Correction, several practical aspects of MDS codes and LDPC codes are investigated in order to select a code

Evaluation of error control mechanisms for 802.11b multicast transmissions

This article first presents several packet loss profiles collected during 802.11b multicast transmissions carried out under variable reception conditions (mobile and fixed receivers). Then, an original approach consisting in mapping a posteriori some error control mechanisms over these observations is presented. This approach allows to evaluate the performance of these mechanisms according to their parameters and various channel properties. It is shown in particular that relatively simple mechanisms based on retransmissions and/or error correcting codes of small length achieve very good performance in this context (92% of the best performance)

Reed-solomon forward error correction (FEC) schemes, RFC 5510

This document describes a Fully-Specified Forward Error Correction (FEC) Scheme for the Reed-Solomon FEC codes over GF(2^^m), where m is in {2..16}, and its application to the reliable delivery of data objects on the packet erasure channel (i.e., a communication path where packets are either received without any corruption or discarded during transmission). This document also describes a Fully-Specified FEC Scheme for the special case of Reed-Solomon codes over GF(2^^8) when there is no encoding symbol group. Finally, in the context of the Under-Specified Small Block Systematic FEC Scheme (FEC Encoding ID 129), this document assigns an FEC Instance ID to the special case of Reed-Solomon codes over GF(2^^8). Reed-Solomon codes belong to the class of Maximum Distance Separable (MDS) codes, i.e., they enable a receiver to recover the k source symbols from any set of k received symbols. The schemes described here are compatible with the implementation from Luigi Rizzo

Optimal Worst-Case QoS Routing in Constrained AWGN Channel Network

In this paper, we extend the optimal worst-case QoS routing algorithm and metric definition given in [1]. We prove that in addition to the q-ary symmetric and q-ary erasure channel model, the necessary and sufficient conditions defined in [2] for the Generalized Dijkstra's Algorithm (GDA) can be used with a constrained non-negative-mean AWGN channel. The generalization allowed the computation of the worst-case QoS metric value for a given edge weight density. The worst-case value can then be used as the routing metric in networks where some nodes have error correcting capabilities. The result is an optimal worst-case QoS routing algorithm that uses the Generalized Dijkstra's Algorithm as a subroutine with a polynomial time complexity of O(V^3)

Experimental Evaluation of Large Scale WiFi Multicast Rate Control

WiFi multicast to very large groups has gained attention as a solution for multimedia delivery in crowded areas. Yet, most recently proposed schemes do not provide performance guarantees and none have been tested at scale. To address the issue of providing high multicast throughput with performance guarantees, we present the design and experimental evaluation of the Multicast Dynamic Rate Adaptation (MuDRA) algorithm. MuDRA balances fast adaptation to channel conditions and stability, which is essential for multimedia applications. MuDRA relies on feedback from some nodes collected via a light-weight protocol and dynamically adjusts the rate adaptation response time. Our experimental evaluation of MuDRA on the ORBIT testbed with over 150 nodes shows that MuDRA outperforms other schemes and supports high throughput multicast flows to hundreds of receivers while meeting quality requirements. MuDRA can support multiple high quality video streams, where 90% of the nodes report excellent or very good video quality