Empirical evaluation of H.264/SVC streaming in resource-constrained multihomed mobile networks

Nomadic users of streamed multimedia content in mobile networks are often faced with resource-constrained network paths that suffer from low bandwidth. Streaming high-quality video in such a challenging scenario demands a set of highly adaptive schemes, which have not been sufficiently explored in particular for the emerging H.264 Scalable Video Coding (H.264/SVC) standard. In this paper, we empirically investigate the performance of streaming H.264/SVC scalable video streams to users in multihomed mobile networks containing multiple available transmission paths. Previous work has demonstrated the feasibility of aggregating bandwidth of multiple paths to deliver video streams when no single, sufficiently high bandwidth path is available. We focus on evaluating the enhanced performance of multipath bandwidth-aggregation streaming by exploiting a quality-layers based, H.264/SVC-specific packet prioritisation scheme for quality-aware multipath packet scheduling and selective packet dropping in case of bandwidth shortage even after aggregation. Additionally, we explore a base-layer rate control scheme for H.264/SVC delivery in ultra-low bandwidth environments. Through extensive experimentation on a realistic hardware-based testbed, we obtain a comprehensive and insightful understanding of the behaviour of H.264/SVC streams when transmitted across multiple paths in mobile networks. We quantify the improvements offered by the use of H.264/SVC-specific packet prioritisation schemes compared with an existing generic scalable video prioritisation scheme, and the benefits by the use of base-layer rate control in ultra-low bandwidth situations. The performance of the multipath streaming schemes is further compared with that of an ideal single high bandwidth path. We also identify the remaining challenges that must be overcome if such streaming schemes are to offer performance close to that of the ideal single high bandwidth path.     

无线网络包调度算法综述

无线网络介质的广播特性使得相邻用户的业务传输产生竞争,并且网络所支持的支持业务也呈多样发展,而调度规则不仅可以解决竞争问题,还可以保证不同业务的QoS。该文概述了当前提出的用于无线网络的包调度算法,提出了还需解决的问题。     

基于RTT自适应的无线TCP改进算法

针对TCP Reno在无线环境下的性能恶化问题,在研究分析TCP Reno拥塞控制算法问题的基础上,提出一种基于RTT自适应的改进算法.该算法实现了丢包区分的拥塞窗口与慢启动门限调整,减轻了传统TCP由于无法区分拥塞丢包与误码丢包、盲目将拥塞窗口减半带来的性能下降.分析了该算法的可行性,并通过NS仿真对其吞吐量、带宽利用率、公平性等指标进行评估.仿真结果表明,相对TCP Reno,改进算法实现了无线环境下的TCP性能改善,同时具有一定的友好性与公平性.     

Adaptive TCP congestion control and routing schemes using cross-layer information for mobile ad hoc networks

Compared with traditional networks, ad hoc networks possess many unique characteristics. For example, ad hoc networks can drop a packet due to network events other than buffer overflow. Unfortunately, the current layered network architecture makes it impossible to pass the information specific to one layer to other layers. As a result, if a packet is lost due to reasons other than buffer overflow, TCP adversely invokes its congestion control procedure. Similarly, the routing algorithm may misinterpret that a path is broken and adversely invoke the route recovery procedure.This study addresses the limitations of the current layered network architecture by adopting a cross-layer protocol design for TCP and routing algorithms in ad hoc networks. The objective of this approach is to enable the lower-layered ad hoc network to detect and differentiate all possible network events, including disconnections, channel errors, buffer overflow, and link-layer contention, that may cause packet loss. Using the information exploited by lower layers, the upper layer-3 routing algorithm, and the layer-4 TCP can take various actions according to the types of network events. Simulation results demonstrate that the combination of the cross-layer optimized TCP and routing algorithms can effectively improve the performance of TCP and DSR, regardless of whether it is in a stationary or a mobile ad hoc network.     

基于无线TCP的簇生丢失重传协议

为提高TCP在无线网络中的传输性能,提出一种局部数据链路层重传协议,簇生丢失重传协议CLRP(Clustered-Loss Retransmission Protoc01)．针对无线链路上突发丢失性强、分组丢失率高的特点,CLRP协议与移动主机端TCP相结合,一方面为重发提供明确的分组丢失种类和高效的无线多分组丢失信息;另一方面提出了更为完善的无线丢失重发控制机制．此外,本协议无需对固定主机端TCP做任何改动．     

多通道并行传输中接收缓存阻塞的缓解方法

针对多通道并行传输中的接收缓存阻塞问题,分析了引起接收缓存阻塞的原因,提出一种改进的缓解接收缓存阻塞的数据包调度方法,综合考虑通道的带宽、时延和丢包率,引入通道质量的评价函数,优化多通道之间的数据包调度,选择质量最好的通道进行传输,减少由于通道特性不同造成的接收端数据包乱序;提出一种改进的数据包重传策略,基于时延和丢包率选择能使数据包最快到达接收端的通道进行重传;提出一种根据通道的带宽-延迟积估算所需接收缓存大小的方法。仿真实验表明,所提出的调度方法和重传策略能够有效地减轻接收缓存阻塞,与CMT-SCTP相比具有更优的性能,所提出的缓存大小的估算方法也能够准确估算所需接收缓存的大小。     

一个具有链路层支持的快速Mobile IP切换算法

由于目前流行的Mobile IP切换都假定了IP层无法得到链路层信息,所以,只能通过周期性地广播代理广告来实现位置移动检测,因而浪费了无线带宽,延长了切换时间,降低了TCP性能.一方面随着无线网络带宽的不断增高(当前的带宽已达到2Mbps),无线链路上的信息传输延迟将越来越小;另一方面,在移动计算环境中,如果IP层能够及时获得一些无线链路层的信息,那么上述的缺点就能被有效地克服.本文提出了一种具有链路层支持的快速Mobile IP切换算法,分析了快速Mobile IP切换算法和三个已知切换算法的切换时间,并在我们已完成的宽带无线IP网络中对上述切换算法进行了对比实验.理论分析和对比实验均表明快速Mobile IP切换算法的延迟降低了一个数量级且极大地改善了TCP性能.     

Revisiting flow-based load balancing: Stateless path selection in data center networks

Hash-based load-balancing techniques are widely used to distribute the load over multiple forwarding paths and preserve the packet sequence of transport-level flows. Forcing a long-lived, i.e., elephant, flow to follow a specific path in the network is a desired mechanism in data center networks to avoid crossing hot spots. This limits the formation of bottlenecks and so improves the network use. Unfortunately, current per-flow load-balancing methods do not allow sources to deterministically force a specific path for a flow.In this paper, we propose a deterministic approach enabling end hosts to steer their flows over any desired load-balanced path without relying on any packet header extension. By using an invertible mechanism instead of solely relying on a hash function in routers, our method allows to easily select the packet’s header field values in order to force the selection of a given load-balanced path without storing any state in routers.We perform various simulations and experiments to evaluate the performance and prove the feasibility of our method using a Linux kernel implementation. Furthermore, we demonstrate with simulations and lab experiments how MultiPath TCP can benefit from the combination of our solution with a flow scheduling system that efficiently distributes elephant flows in large data center networks.     

无线移动网络中增强TCP性能的技术综述

TCP是因特网上的主要传输协议，在数据包丢失主要是由拥塞引起的传统网络上，TCP可以充分发挥其性能，但是在无线移动网络中，TCP将无线信道比特差错和移动切换引起的数据包丢失误归于网络发生拥塞而采取拥塞控制措施，不必要地降低了端到的吞吐率，导致自身性能的下降，首先阐述了当前无线移动网络的发展状况和TCP面临的问题，在此基础上，综述和评价了各种增强TCP性能的技术方案，最后，结合无线移动通信系统的最新进展，分析和探讨了当前存在的问题和进一步的研究方向。     

Investigating the performance of TCP in mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks have several inherent characteristics (e.g. dynamic topology, time-varying and bandwidth constrained wireless channels, multi-hop routing, and distributed control and management). The goal of this work is to investigate the impact of these characteristics on the performance of TCP. First, we investigate throughput performance of TCP as a function of path length (i.e. multiple wireless hops), node mobility, and traffic intensity. Next, we examine the ‘fairness’ of the ad hoc network with regard to equal sharing of network bandwidth among multiple TCP flows. Third, we evaluate the impact of two on-demand routing protocols (i.e. AODV and DSR) on the throughput of TCP. Finally, a factorial design experiment is conducted to quantify the effects and interactions of three factors, which influence the throughput of TCP. These factors include routing, node speed, and node pause time. Two key results were observed. Results show that traffic intensity (e.g. number of concurrent flows) is significantly affects TCP throughput, suggesting the need for congestion control, scheduling and traffic management schemes. Second, source routing achieves higher throughputs while also generating significantly less routing overhead than AODV. Results also show that in some instances, the fairness of the network is very uneven among concurrent TCP flows, resulting in several sending stations achieving very little or no throughput.     

基于优先级分类的工业无线网络确定性调度算法

确定性调度技术对于工业无线网络数据的实时性和确定性传输有着重要意义.本文针对工业无线网络数据流本身存在优先级分类属性的情况,基于多信道时分多址接入(TDMA)技术,在分析高优先级数据流对低优先级数据流造成的链路冲突延时和信道竞争延时基础上,对网络进行调度预处理,进而排除参数不合理的网络,并向网络管理者反馈.对于通过预处理的网络,调度算法优先为高优先级数据流的链路分配时隙和信道资源,而对属于同一类优先级的数据流,提出一种基于比例冲突空余时间的调度方案,在满足可调度性条件的前提下,根据各链路的比例冲突空余时间值从小到大依次分配时隙和信道资源.实验结果表明,所提出的调度算法可以取得较高的网络调度成功率.     

互联网端到端多径可靠传输协议研究

随着有线网络中多路径路由的部署和异构无线网络的发展,通信对等双方存在多条IP路径的场景越来越普遍.由于传统的单径传输协议无法充分发挥多路径带来的好处,如何设计有效的端到端多径可靠传输协议来提高端到端性能并保证网络资源分配的公平性成为研究的热点.多条路径的差异性给多径传输协议的设计带来诸多的问题:分组乱序造成接收缓存阻塞,不合理的多径分组调度造成吞吐率的抑制,缺乏多径协同造成带宽未充分利用和多径异构性造成网络资源分配不公平.就如何应对这些问题对现有协议多路径协议进行综述,并指出协议发展的趋势以及开放的研究问题.     

Ad hoc无线网络负载自适应平衡跨层多径路由算法

提出了一种Ad hoc无线网络流量自适应平衡的多径路由选择算法LACLMRA。算法LACLMRA利用网络的跨层信息：传输层提供的数据端到端传输延迟、节点MAC层提供的最近一次传输成功前重传次数、网络层的缓存队列长度等信息,构建多条不相交的多径路由。在实际的数据传输过程中,根据路由的质量,在多条路径中自适应分配流量,缓解节点的拥塞,延长Ad hoc无线网络的生存时间。仿真结果也显示该算法与SMR、AOMDV等多径路由算法相比,在降低网络平均延迟、提高吞吐量、延长网络生存时间方面,有更好的表现。     

MRTP: a multiflow real-time transport protocol for ad hoc networks

Real-time multimedia transport has stringent quality of service requirements, which are generally not supported by current network architectures. In emerging mobile ad hoc networks, frequent topology changes and link failures cause severe packet losses, which degrade the quality of received media. However, in such mesh networks, there usually exist multiple paths between any source and destination nodes. Such path diversity has been demonstrated to be effective in combating congestion and link failures for improved media quality. In this paper, we present a new protocol to facilitate multipath transport of real-time multimedia data. The proposed protocol, the multiflow real-time transport protocol (MRTP), provides a convenient vehicle for real-time applications to partition and transmit data using multiple flows. We demonstrate through analysis that data partitioning, which is an essential function of MRTP, can effectively reduce the short-range dependence of multimedia data, thus improving its queueing performance in underlying networks. Furthermore, we show that a few flows are sufficient for MRTP to exploit most of the benefits of multipath transport. Finally, we present a comprehensive simulation study on the performance of MRTP under a mobile ad hoc network. We show that with one additional path, MRTP outperformed single-flow RTP by a significant margin.     

Availability of end-to-end ideal QoS in IP packet networks

Network processor technology has advanced to the point where high-precision time-based store-and-forward logic is readily incorporated into packet switches and routers. With appropriate scheduling, packets from multiple flows can be serviced without contending for link resources. Accordingly, packet flows traversing a network of switching elements can have both path and time determinacy attributes which support ideal end-to-end QoS (zero jitter, zero loss, acceptable end-to-end latency) for real-time UDP packet flows and guaranteed goodput for TCP flows. One approach to packing a network with a relatively large number of such deterministic flows, i.e. achieving high availability of the ideal QoS service in a network, uses precise buffering of packets at each switch, which introduces latency. This paper describes analysis methods for quantifying how much buffering may be necessary to achieve high (99.999%) availability. For typical network topologies the analysis shows that buffering latency requirements are very small compared to transport delays, even when the network is highly utilized with heterogeneous (e.g. voice, video, circuit emulation, and data) traffic. Actual physical implementations have empirically validated the analysis results as well as the scalability of the end-to-end, time-based forwarding approach and the end-to-end availability of ideal QoS services in IP packet networks.     

QoS敏感的802.11e分组调度算法

分析并总结无线网络中基于QoS的分组调度算法,针对802.11e EDCA机制中多媒体数据分组调度的不公平问题,提出QoS敏感的802.11e数据分组调度算法.首先,根据不同数据业务延时敏感性需求,提出新的基于紧急度的数据分组调度指标.然后,在802.11e协议中根据业务流的紧急度,调整不同业务流所对应AC队列的参数,改变AC队列信道访问优先级,使紧急业务流有更多机会竞争到信道访问权.最后,进行大量仿真实验,实验结果验证了所提算法的有效性.     

无线网状网中自适应网络编码的MPTCP研究与设计

网络编码可以提高无线网状网的吞吐量,但是它在无线网状网中的实际应用是一个挑战性的问题。网络编码必须和TCP很好相容才能得到广泛应用。根据无线网状网的特点,研究和设计了一种自适应网络编码的多路径TCP。在提出的方案中,网络编码被加入到现有的网络系统,源节点根据目的节点编码数据块的自由度,调整发送编码的数据块,以降低多路径传输的数据报文的失序,提高网络的吞吐量,保证各个数据流之间的公平性。仿真结果表明设计的MPTCP有效。     

HFC网络的缓冲区管理和分组调度联合算法

以HFC网络为背景,针对嵌入式设备的存储资源有限性、网络带宽有限性以及宽带网络中多业务流的特点,提出一种缓冲区管理和分组调度联合算法.该算法通过控制业务流队列长度和设置业务流优先级方程的方式来管理缓冲区和带宽的分配,使内存管理和分组调度协调配合,从而为不同类型的网络数据提供区分服务.通过测试,在本文的仿真设置下,当网络资源紧张时,使用该算法后,可以达到实时业务流的超时数据比未使用该算法时的超时数据少89.6%的效果;而非实时业务流也可以达到平均丢包率比不使用该算法时的平均丢包率低90%的效果.     

Comparison of load-balancing approaches for multipath connectivity

During past years, the so-called resource pooling principle in data networks has been studied more carefully. For example, the recent work on routing on the Internet over multiple paths and Multipath TCP both seek to make the best possible use of multiple connecting paths between two end points. In deployments where multiple users could share multiple paths, one of the very first questions that comes to mind is, should we schedule packets from the users on a per-flow or per-packet basis? In this paper we study networking scenarios in which several networks are connected to each other via multiple paths. We seek to understand how a multi-homed router should schedule packets and packet flows out towards other networks. Our primary interests are to study path utilization and analyze the bandwidth fairness of various approaches using different traffic loads.     

无线传感器网络中基于能量效率的多路径路由算法

针对无线传感器网络节点能量受限的特点,本文提出了一种能量有效、负载均衡的多路径路由算法(EMR)。该算法在按需路由协议AODV基础上,不单纯以最小跳数或者最小时延作为路由选择依据,充分考虑到了路由的能量消耗最小化,避开剩余能量过低的节点,数据沿着最小跳数或路径关键能量比较高的路径传输,降低了网络的能量消耗,也避免关键节点的过量负载。分析与仿真结果表明,与AODV协议相比较,EMR具有更好的分组投递率、端到端时延,推迟了网络中出现死亡节点的时间,从而延长了网络生命周期。