Cross-layer reduction of wireless network card idle time to optimize energy consumption of pull thin client protocols

Thin client computing trades local processing for network bandwidth consumption by offloading application logic to remote servers. User input and display updates are exchanged between client and server through a thin client protocol. On wireless devices, the thin client protocol traffic can lead to a significantly higher power consumption of the radio interface. In this article, a cross-layer framework is presented that transitions the wireless network interface card (WNIC) to the energy-conserving sleep mode when no traffic from the server is expected. The approach is validated for different wireless channel conditions, such as path loss and available bandwidth, as well as for different network roundtrip time values. Using this cross-layer algorithm for sample scenario with a remote text editor, and through experiments based on actual user traces, a reduction of the WNIC energy consumption of up to 36.82% is obtained, without degrading the application's reactivity

Bandwidth efficient adaptive forward error correction mechanism with feedback channel

Multimedia content is very sensitive to packet loss and therefore multimedia streams are typically protected against packet loss, either by supporting retransmission requests or by adding redundant forward error correction (FEC) data. However, the redundant FEC information introduces significant additional bandwidth requirements, as compared to the bitrate of the original video stream. Especially on wireless and mobile networks, bandwidth availability is limited and variable. In this article, an adaptive FEC (A-FEC) system is presented whereby the redundancy rate is dynamically adjusted to the packet loss, based on feedback messages from the client. We present a statistical model of our A-FEC system and validate the proposed system under different packet loss conditions and loss probabilities. The experimental results show that 57-95% bandwidth gain can be achieved compared with a static FEC approach

Upstream bandwidth optimization of thin client protocols through latency-aware adaptive user event buffering

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Cross-layer optimization of radio sleep intervals to increase thin client energy efficiency

Thin client computing trades local processing for network bandwidth consumption by offloading application logic to remote servers. User input and display updates are exchanged between client and server through a thin client protocol. This thin client protocol traffic can lead to a significantly higher power consumption of the radio interface of the wireless device. In this contribution, we present a cross-layer algorithm that exploits thin client protocol layer information to determine intervals where no traffic from the server is expected. During these intervals, the wireless network interface card (WNIC) is instructed to enter the energy conserving sleep mode. Using this algorithm for a remote text editor, WNIC energy consumption reductions of 21-52% can be achieved

Characterization of power consumption in thin clients due to protocol data transmission over IEEE 802.11

In thin client computing, applications are executed on a network server instead of on the user terminal. Since the amount of processing at the terminal is reduced, thin clients are potentially energy efficient devices. However, a network connection between client and server is required for the transmission of user input and display updates. The energy needed for this intense network communication might undo or even exceed the power savings achieved by the reduction in client-side processing. In this paper, we present experimental results on power efficiency of the wireless platform on the thin client in case of thin client traffic. The discussion is focused on VNC-RFB, a widespread thin client protocol, over an IEEE 802.11 link in three typical user scenarios. The results indicate that a cross-layer approach between application and wireless link layer could potentially lead to important power savings