QoE Modelling, Measurement and Prediction: A Review

In mobile computing systems, users can access network services anywhere and anytime using mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones. These devices connect to the Internet via network or telecommunications operators. Users usually have some expectations about the services provided to them by different operators. Users' expectations along with additional factors such as cognitive and behavioural states, cost, and network quality of service (QoS) may determine their quality of experience (QoE). If users are not satisfied with their QoE, they may switch to different providers or may stop using a particular application or service. Thus, QoE measurement and prediction techniques may benefit users in availing personalized services from service providers. On the other hand, it can help service providers to achieve lower user-operator switchover. This paper presents a review of the state-the-art research in the area of QoE modelling, measurement and prediction. In particular, we investigate and discuss the strengths and shortcomings of existing techniques. Finally, we present future research directions for developing novel QoE measurement and prediction technique

Extended mobile IP and support for global connectivity in hybrid networks

Mobility is an essential and necessary feature for roaming users who connect to wireless networks via access points. Access points may have different capabilities, be connected to different networks and be installed by different providers. A mobile host will discover multiple access points in this environment. A mobile host should be able to use the best available connectivity to communicate with a correspondent host and perhaps use multiple connections for different hosts. In areas with wireless local area network access, pockets with limited or no coverage could exist. Such restricted connectivity could be compensated by neighbor hosts who form an ad hoc network and relay packets until they reach an access point. This thesis describes and discusses the proposed solutions towards enabling and supporting connectivity in wireless access networks. In the proposed solutions the network layer software will evaluate and decide which wireless network connections to use. This thesis proposes a Running Variance Metric (RVM) and a Relative Network Load (RNL) as performance metrics to classify the traffic load of access points in wireless access networks. RVM and RNL can be efficiently used for infrastructure networks and ad hoc networks. This thesis proposes an extension to Mobile IP in order to enable mobile hosts to use multiple care-of addresses simultaneously. These extensions enhance network connectivity by enabling the mobile host, the home agent and correspondent hosts to evaluate and select the best connection. The proposed extension to Mobile IP is called Multihomed Mobile IP to emphasize support for multiple connections for a mobile host at the same time. This thesis describes a proposed gateway architecture that integrates wired IP networks with ad hoc networks. Routes between a mobile host and gateways are maintained continuously where multi-hop ad hoc connections are supported. Communication between peers in ad hoc networks is based on reactive ad hoc routing. Mobile hosts moving between ad hoc networks are supported by Multihomed Mobile IP. This thesis describes developed prototypes and simulation results to validate multihomed Mobile IP and the gateway architecture which integrates ad hoc networks and wired IP networks.Godkänd; 2005; 20060916 (ysko

A MIP-P2P based architecture for application mobility

Mobility exists in many shapes; when migrating a running application (code, states and data) from one device to another, one has achieved application mobility. In this article we combine this mobility type with context awareness, defiining context awareness supported application mobility (CASAM) as when using context in the act of moving an application between hosts during its execution, to provide relevant information and/or services, where relevancy depends on the user's task. We identify and present five CASAM challenges, that are used to create requirements for a CASAM architecture. A proposal for an architecture, building on peer-to-peer (P2P) technology in combination with mobile IP, is then presented, addressing the identified challenges, providing a decentralized framework for global application mobility. As such, our architecture differs from earlier centralized and/or locally bound solutions for application mobility.Godkänd; 2011; 20120216 (ysko

A scalability study of AAA support in heterogeneous networking environments with global roaming support

In this paper, we present a scalability study of AAA support in mobile heterogeneous access networks with respect to server and network load related to AAA processes using the RADIUS protocol. Technologies such as IEEE 802.11, CDMA 2000 and UMTS which all support the RADIUS protocol for AAA handling are discussed and analyzed. Typical performance data are gathered and complemented with a theoretical study in order to achieve an overview of what parameters will affect the performance and scalability of the network. Also, guidelines are developed for network design in order to achieve the desired performance for a given number of users. Results of this study include the conclusion that the main bottleneck of the AAA procedure is not necessarily the AAA server CPU power. Aside the cases with a high proportion of computationally intensive WiFi sign-ons with strong encryption, performance issues may be caused by AAA server network connection bandwidth, and RAM memory. In cases where a high number of users reside in the same user database, database performance becomes a significant issue. In order to achieve better performance, CPU load balancing over several servers may be performed.Godkänd; 2011; 20111129 (dangra)</p

Multihoming with mobile IP

Mobile IP is the standard for mobility management in IP networks. With today’s emerging possibilities within wireless broadband communication, mobility within networks will increase. New applications and protocols will be created and Mobile IP is important to this development, since Mobile IP support is needed to allow mobile hosts to move between networks with maintained connectivity. This article describes multihomed Mobile IP enabling mobile hosts to register multiple care-of addresses at the home agent, to enhance the performance of wireless network connectivity. Flows can be loadbalanced between care-of addresses to achieve a more reliable connectivity. A prototype is also described.Validerad; 2003; 20060917 (ysko

Optimized access network selection in a combined WLAN/LTE environment

Multimode terminals equipped with multiple radio access technologies are becoming increasingly popular. At the same time, network operators and service providers seek opportunities to deliver seamless services cost effectively, leveraging a variety of radio access technologies using both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. In order to standardize the operations of such complex environments 3GPP is currently working on IP flow mobility and mobile data offload solutions. This article proposes and evaluates a new access network selection procedure in such a combined WLAN/LTE environment. The proposed solution takes not only parameters available in the mobile node and its current and candidate access networks into account, but performs an optimization on the heterogeneous wireless network level as well. An optimization model based on an approximate solution to the well-known bin packing problem is presented. Also, there is a signaling scheme for distribution handling presented. Results from simulations performed in OPNET Modeler show improvements compared to basing handover decisions on locally available information only.Validerad; 2011; 20100920 (karand

Integration of ad hoc network and IP network capabilities for mobile hosts

Mobility of user devices connecting to the Internet is of major interest in today’s research in networking. Users with portable devices, like laptops and personal digital assistants (PDA), connecting to foreign networks in the Internet want the same functionality as when connected to the home network, as well as accessibility through the home IP address. Ad hoc networking is also of major importance for connectivity between communicating mobile hosts without backbone infrastructure and for connectivity to access points. For the users as well as for the applications, network mobility should be transparent. The usage of the ad hoc network or the wired IP network should also be managed by the networking software and hidden from applications and users. In this paper we propose and describe an integrated connectivity solution and its software implementation between an ad hoc network running the Ad Hoc On- Demand Distance-Vector Protocol and a wired IP network where Mobile IP is used for mobility management. With the usage of ad hoc networking, a mobile host will be able to use multiple foreign networks to enhance the communication performance. A proposal to multihomed Mobile IP is presented to achieve this.Godkänd; 2003; Bibliografisk uppgift: Awarded among best papers; 20060917 (ysko