End-to-end QoE optimization through overlay network deployment

In this paper an overlay network for end-to-end QoE management is presented. The goal of this infrastructure is QoE optimization by routing around failures in the IP network and optimizing the bandwidth usage on the last mile to the client. The overlay network consists of components that are located both in the core and at the edge of the network. A number of overlay servers perform end-to-end QoS monitoring and maintain an overlay topology, allowing them to route around link failures and congestion. Overlay access components situated at the edge of the network are responsible for determining whether packets are sent to the overlay network, while proxy components manage the bandwidth on the last mile. This paper gives a detailed overview of the end-to-end architecture together with representative experimental results which comprehensively demonstrate the overlay network's ability to optimize the QoE

Managing client bandwidth in the presence of both real-time and non real-time network traffic

Abstract—Managing client downstream bandwidth is an issue that is rapidly gaining in importance due to the increasing extent to which multimedia content is being exploited in networked applications. Depending on its characteristics, this multimedia content is exchanged in either a real-time or non real-time manner. In this paper, we present the NIProxy, a network intermediary which introduces different types of intelligence in the transportation network in an attempt to improve the Quality of Experience (QoE) provided to users of networked applications. In particular, we concentrate on the NIProxy’s bandwidth distri-bution functionality and we report on how support for non real-time network traffic was incorporated through the adoption of buffering as well as rate control techniques. Using representative experimental results, we demonstrate the NIProxy’s capability to successfully manage client downstream bandwidth in the presence of both real-time and non real-time network traffic. In addition, the presented experimental results are compared to the default scenario in which the NIProxy is not involved, revealing a considerable improvement in the user’s QoE in case the NIProxy’s bandwidth management functionality is leveraged. I

The NIProxy: a Flexible Proxy Server Supporting Client Bandwidth Management and Multimedia Service Provision

We present the NIProxy, a flexible network intermediary which aims to improve the Quality of Experience (QoE) of users of networked applications by pushing more intel-ligence into the network. More specifically, the NIProxy is network- as well as application-aware, meaning it has knowledge of both the transportation network and the ap-plication(s) it is serving. This dual awareness is exploited to improve user QoE in two complementary ways. First of all, the NIProxy is capable of dynamically distributing a client’s available downstream bandwidth over the differ-ent network streams generated by a networked application. Secondly, the NIProxy supports multimedia service provi-sion, meaning it can apply services on multimedia streams on behalf of its clients. An important feature of the NIProxy is that its two QoE-improving mechanisms are not isolated entities but instead can interact with each other. A compre-hensive discussion of the NIProxy’s software architecture is provided and the implementation of an example service, which adds video transcoding functionality to the NIProxy, is described. Finally, presented experimental results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach. 1

An eco-friendly hybrid urban computing network combining community-based wireless LAN access and wireless sensor networking

Computer-enhanced smart environments, distributed environmental monitoring, wireless communication, energy conservation and sustainable technologies, ubiquitous access to Internet-located data and services, user mobility and innovation as a tool for service differentiation are all significant contemporary research subjects and societal developments. This position paper presents the design of a hybrid municipal network infrastructure that, to a lesser or greater degree, incorporates aspects from each of these topics by integrating a community-based Wi-Fi access network with Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) functionality. The former component provides free wireless Internet connectivity by harvesting the Internet subscriptions of city inhabitants. To minimize session interruptions for mobile clients, this subsystem incorporates technology that achieves (near-)seamless handover between Wi-Fi access points. The WSN component on the other hand renders it feasible to sense physical properties and to realize the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. This in turn scaffolds the development of value-added end-user applications that are consumable through the community-powered access network. The WSN subsystem invests substantially in ecological considerations by means of a green distributed reasoning framework and sensor middleware that collaboratively aim to minimize the network's global energy consumption. Via the discussion of two illustrative applications that are currently being developed as part of a concrete smart city deployment, we offer a taste of the myriad of innovative digital services in an extensive spectrum of application domains that is unlocked by the proposed platform

ALVIC versus the Internet: Redesigning a Networked Virtual Environment Architecture

The explosive growth of the number of applications based on networked virtual environment technology, both games and virtual communities, shows that these types of applications have become commonplace in a short period of time. However, from a research point of view, the inherent weaknesses in their architectures are quickly exposed. The Architecture for Large-Scale Virtual Interactive Communities (ALVICs) was originally developed to serve as a generic framework to deploy networked virtual environment applications on the Internet. While it has been shown to effectively scale to the numbers originally put forward, our findings have shown that, on a real-life network, such as the Internet, several drawbacks will not be overcome in the near future. It is, therefore, that we have recently started with the development of ALVIC-NG, which, while incorporating the findings from our previous research, makes several improvements on the original version, making it suitable for deployment on the Internet as it exists today

Improving CEMA using Correlation Optimization

Sensitive cryptographic information, e.g. AES secret keys, can be extracted from the electromagnetic (EM) leakages unintentionally emitted by a device using techniques such as Correlation Electromagnetic Analysis (CEMA). In this paper, we introduce Correlation Optimization (CO), a novel approach that improves CEMA attacks by formulating the selection of useful EM leakage samples in a trace as a machine learning optimization problem. To this end, we propose the correlation loss function, which aims to maximize the Pearson correlation between a set of EM traces and the true AES key during training. We show that CO works with high-dimensional and noisy traces, regardless of time-domain trace alignment and without requiring prior knowledge of the power consumption characteristics of the cryptographic hardware. We evaluate our approach using the ASCAD benchmark dataset and a custom dataset of EM leakages from an Arduino Duemilanove, captured with a USRP B200 SDR. Our results indicate that the masked AES implementation used in all three ASCAD datasets can be broken with a shallow Multilayer Perceptron model, whilst requiring only 1,000 test traces on average. A similar methodology was employed to break the unprotected AES implementation from our custom dataset, using 22,000 unaligned and unfiltered test traces

Knocking on IPs: Identifying HTTPS Websites for Zero-Rated Traffic

Zero-rating is a technique where internet service providers (ISPs) allow consumers to utilize a specific website without charging their internet data plan. Implementing zero-rating requires an accurate website identification method that is also efficient and reliable to be applied on live network traffic. In this paper, we examine existing website identification methods with the objective of applying zero-rating. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ineffectiveness of these methods against modern encryption protocols such as Encrypted SNI and DNS over HTTPS and therefore show that ISPs are not able to maintain the current zero-rating approaches in the forthcoming future. To address this concern, we present “Open-Knock,” a novel approach that is capable of accurately identifying a zero-rated website, thwarts free-riding attacks, and is sustainable on the increasingly encrypted web. In addition, our approach does not require plaintext protocols or preprocessed fingerprints upfront. Finally, our experimental analysis unveils that we are able to convert each IP address to the correct domain name for each website in the Tranco top 6000 websites list with an accuracy of 50.5% and therefore outperform the current state-of-the-art approaches

The ExtReAM Library: Extensible Real-time Animations for Multiple Platforms

Abstract — We introduce a dynamic, platform-independent framework for computer animation. The ExtReAM library is constructed around an object-oriented core that can easily be extended. The core system provides functionality for managing objects and plugins. The plugins on the other hand are used to perform more specific tasks such as loading and animating objects using different animation techniques. Different plugins can be used for similar tasks on different platforms and they need to be loaded only when their functionality is required. Easy integration of our system into applications was also one of the main design objectives. In this paper we present the main architecture and motivate the most important design decisions. Furthermore, we show results of two applications demonstrating the use of the ExtReAM library. The first application allows animated worlds to be controlled on desktop platforms while the second one allows animated scenes to be displayed on a PocketPC mobile device. Index Terms — 3D Computer animation, games, multiple platform development, system architectures. I

Wijnants, Dynamic Interactions in Physically Realistic Collaborative Virtual Environments

Abstract — This work describes our efforts in creating a general object interaction framework for dynamic collaborative virtual environments. Furthermore we increase the realism of the interactive world by using a rigid body simulator to calculate all actor and object movements. The main idea behind our interactive platform is to construct a virtual world using only objects that contain their own interaction information. As a result, the object interactions are application independent and only a single scheme is required to handle all interactions in the virtual world. In order to have more dynamic interactions, we also created a new and efficient way for human users to dynamically interact within virtual worlds through their avatar. In particular, we show how inverse kinematics can be used to increase the interaction possibilities and realism in collaborative virtual environments. This results in a higher feeling of presence for connected users and allows for easy, on the fly creation of new interactions. For the distribution of both the interactive objects and the dynamic avatar interactions, we keep the network load as low as possible. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our techniques, we incorporate them into an existing CVE framework. Index Terms — Artificial, augmented, and virtual realities, computer-supported cooperative work, synchronous interaction, animation, simulation. I

Analysis of Scalable Data Streams for Representations in Networked Virtual Environments

Analyzing the data generated by networked applications is a topic of great interest to a number of parties, such as ISPs and Network Equipment Manufacturers. However, it is becoming an increasingly difficult task to accomplish, mainly due to the use of undisclosed protocols. This is especially true when considering applications that stream content in real-time from central servers. There is a clear need for more detailed knowledge of the network behavior of these techniques. In this poster, we analyze the data streams related to 3D objects that are requested by the clients of our own networked virtual environment framework. We employ several LoD optimizations such as the use of image based representations and reduced complexity geometrical models. Using these optimizations, we try to deliver an acceptable visual representation of the virtual world as quickly as possible to a user in an environment that is in its entirety streamed in real-time from a server. Since these techniques are becoming integrated into commercial applications the conclusions drawn are widely applicable. 1