A two-level stochastic approximation for admission control and bandwidth allocation

In an access node to a multiservice network [e.g., a base station in an integrated services cellular wireless network or the optical line terminal (OLT) in a broad-band passive optical network (PON)], the output link bandwidth is adaptively assigned to different users and dynamically shared between isochronous (guaranteed bandwidth) and asynchronous traffic types. The bandwidth allocation is effected by an admission controller, whose goal is to minimize the refusal rate of connection requests as well as the loss probability of cells queued in a finite buffer. Optimal admission control strategies are approximated by means of backpropagation feedforward neural networks, acting on the embedded Markov chain of the connection dynamics; the neural networks operate in conjunction with a higher level bandwidth allocation controller, which performs a stochastic optimization algorithm. The case of unknown, slowly varying input rates is explicitly considered. Numerical results are presented that evaluate the approximation and the ability to adapt to parameter variations

A general framework for networked multimedia applications enabling access to laboratory equipment: The LABNET project experience

The issue of accessing remote complex laboratories in a networked environment and performing experiments and measurements in which several applications and diverse devices are involved is addressed. A proposal is described for a common architecture for enhanced multimedia remote device control. The aim is to have the ability to set up a "gate" device that is the structured sum of real devices (from routers to microscopes) and virtual ones (e.g. software applications). The architecture exploits the most recent WWW "products", using the flexibility of embedding Java within a middleware framework. The authors do not claim that this will be "the" common architecture in such environment, but this exercise is useful for highlighting a number of problems through the proposal of different sets of solutions. The definition and initial implementation of this concept is part of the activities carried on within the framework of the LABNET project, at the CNIT Multimedia Communications Laboratory in Naples, Italy. The project, which started in April 2000, aims at the implementation of tools for network access to real laboratories and the management of experiments at a distance. The main structure of the project and the on-going activities are also briefly described

On the usage of overlays to provide QoS over IEEE 802.11b/g/e pervasive and mobile networks

A Glance at P2P Overlay Networks and QoS Mechanisms; Design of Overlays to Support QoS; Performance Evaluation