Parallel transport: a new transport layer paradigm for enabling Internet quality of service

The transport layer in the network protocol stack serves as a liaison between the application and the underlying network. Any quality of service provided by the network thus has to be effectively translated by the transport layer protocol in order to be enjoyed by the applications. In this article, we argue for a fundamental rethinking of the transport layer design to facilitate such QoS delivery. We identify the key requirement for a QoS enabling transport layer protocol as the ability to effectively handle multiplicity in terms of user differentiation levels, network resources, and service models. However, TCP, the transport layer protocol predominantly used in the Internet, is unable to support such multiplicity due to its single-state design. We extend TCP to a parallel transport layer protocol called parallel TCP (pTCP) that can tackle the different dimensions of multiplicity, and hence enable varying classes of QoS to applications. We discuss the applicability of pTCP in three specific domains with different levels of network support for QoS, and present simulation results substantiating our arguments.     

On using peer-to-peer communication in cellular wireless data networks

A recent class of approaches for enhancing the performance of cellular wireless data networks has focused on improving the underlying network model. It has been shown that using the peer-to-peer network model, a mode of communication typically seen in ad hoc wireless networks, can result in performance improvements such as increased data rate, reduced transmission power, better load balancing, and enhanced network coverage. However, the true impact of adopting the peer-to-peer network model in such an environment is yet to be fully understood. In this paper, we investigate the performance benefits and drawbacks of using the peer-to-peer network model for Internet access in cellular wireless data networks. We find that, although the peer-to-peer network model has significantly better spatial reuse characteristics, the improved spatial reuse does not translate into better throughput performance. Instead, we observe that using the peer-to-peer network model as-is might actually degrade the throughput performance of the network. We identify and discuss the reasons behind these observations. Using the insights gained through the performance evaluations, we then propose two categories of approaches to improve the performance of the peer-to-peer network model: approaches that leverage assistance from the base station and approaches that leverage the relaying capability of multihomed hosts. Through simulation results, we show that using the peer-to-peer network model in cellular wireless data networks is a promising approach when the network model is complemented with appropriate mechanisms.     

Interworking wireless mesh networks: Problems,performance characterization,and perspectives

Wireless broadband networks based on the IEEE 802.11 technology are being increasingly deployed as mesh networks to provide users with extended coverage for wireless Internet access. These wireless mesh networks, however, may be deployed by different authorities without any coordination a priori, and hence it is possible that they overlap partially or even entirely in service area, resulting in contention of radio resources among them. In this paper, we investigate the artifacts that result from the uncoordinated deployment of wireless mesh networks. We use a network optimization approach to model the problem as resource sharing among nodes belonging to one or different networks. Based on the proposed LP formulation, we then conduct simulations to characterize the performance of overlaying wireless mesh networks, with the goal to provide perspectives for addressing the problems. We find that in a system with multiple overlaying wireless mesh networks, if no form of inter-domain coordination is present, individual mesh networks could suffer from capacity degradation due to increased network contention. One solution toward addressing the performance degradation is to “interwork” these wireless mesh networks by allowing inter-domain traffic relay through provisioning of “bridge” nodes. However, if such bridge nodes are chosen arbitrarily, the problems of throughput sub-optimality and unfairness may arise. We profile the impact of bridge node selection and show the importance in controlling network unfairness for wireless mesh network interworking. We conclude that mesh network interworking is a promising direction to address the artifacts due to uncoordinated deployment of wireless mesh networks if it is supplemented with appropriate mechanisms.     

A Receiver-Centric Transport Protocol for Mobile Hosts with Heterogeneous Wireless Interfaces

Numerous transport protocols have been proposed in related work for use by mobile hosts over wireless environments. A common theme among the design of such protocols is that they specifically address the distinct characteristics of the last-hop wireless link, such as random wireless errors, round-trip time variations, blackouts, handoffs, etc. In this paper, we argue that due to the defining role played by the wireless link on a connection’s performance, locating the intelligence of a transport protocol at the mobile host that is adjacent to the wireless link can result in distinct performance advantages. To this end, we present a receiver-centric transport protocol called RCP (Reception Control Protocol) that is a TCP clone in its general behavior, but allows for better congestion control, loss recovery, and power management mechanisms compared to sender-centric approaches. More importantly, in the context of recent trends where mobile hosts are increasingly being equipped with multiple interfaces providing access to heterogeneous wireless networks, we show that a receiver-centric protocol such as RCP can enable a powerful and comprehensive transport layer solution for such multi-homed hosts. Specifically, we describe how RCP can be used to provide: (i) a scalable solution to support interface specific congestion control for a single active connection; (ii) seamless server migration capability during handoffs; and (iii) effective bandwidth aggregation when receiving data through multiple interfaces, either from one server, or from multiple replicated servers. We use both packet level simulations, and real Internet experiments to evaluate the proposed protocol. In consideration of the typically prevalent server-client nature of traffic in the Internet, we term the protocol ‘receiver-centric’ although precisely it is the mobile host that drives the protocol operation. Note that in this paper, we define the sender and the receiver of a connection with respect to the direction of the data flow. Hung-Yun Hsieh received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He joined the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Graduate Institute of Communication Engineering at National Taiwan University as an Assistant Professor in August 2004. His research interests include wireless networks, mobile computing, and Internet protocols. E-mail: hungyun@ntu.edu.tw Kyu-Han Kim is currently a Ph.D student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sicence at Univeristy of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He received his M.S. degree in computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology, where he worked in the GNAN Research Group under the guidance of Prof. Raghupathy Sivakumar. His main research interests are mobile computing, wireless networks, and network performance evaluation. E-mail: kyuhkim@eecs.umich.edu Yujie Zhu received her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from the Electrical Engineering Department of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1994 and 1997 respectively. After that she worked as a Network Engineer in ATM Network Management Center of China Telecom, Guangzhou Co. She is currently a Ph.D. student in the ECE department of Georgia Tech. Her research interest includes transport layer protocols, sensor networks and mobile ad-hoc networks. E-mail: zhuyujie@ece.gatech.edu Raghupathy Sivakumar received the BE degree in Computer Science from Anna University, India, in 1996 and master’s and doctoral degrees in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1998 and 2000 respectively. He joined the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor in August 2000. His research interests are in wireless network protocols, mobile computing, and network quality of service. E-mail: siva@ece.gatech.edu An erratum to this article is available at .     

Role of membrane dynamics processes and exogenous molecules in cellular resveratrol uptake: consequences in bioavailability and activities

In the fields of nutrition prevention and therapy treatment, numerous studies have reported interesting properties of trans-resveratrol (RSV), a natural polyphenol against pathologies such as vascular diseases, cancers, viral infections and neurodegenerative processes. These beneficial effects are supported by more studies showing the pleiotropic actions of RSV. Nevertheless, a crucial question concerning these effects is how the polyphenol, when applied to an organism, gains access to its targets. In this review, we focus on the biochemical and biological parameters involved in RSV transport, particularly the role of the phospholipid bilayer in RSV uptake (passive diffusion, carrier-mediated transport) and of exogenous molecules modulating RSV transport and effects. The dynamic processes of the plasma membrane reveal the importance of the role of lipid composition in the fluidity, the lipid rafts in RSV endocytosis and the ATP-binding cassette transporters in RSV efflux. Specific membrane receptors such as integrin αvβ3 contribute to RSV uptake and to activate signalling pathways involved in apoptosis. We discuss the role of intracellular receptors (i.e. aryl-hydrocarbon and estrogen receptors). In addition, circulating molecules (i.e. albumin, haemoglobin, fatty acids, lipoproteins) play a role as RSV carriers. Finally, we developed a hypothesis concerning the relation between RSV uptake and its biological activities.     

ATP: a reliable transport protocol for ad hoc networks

Existing works have approached the problem of reliable transport in ad hoc networks by proposing mechanisms to improve TCP's performance over such networks, In this paper, we show through detailed arguments and simulations that several of the design elements in TCP are fundamentally inappropriate for the unique characteristics of ad hoc networks. Given that ad hoc networks are typically stand-alone, we approach the problem of reliable transport from the perspective that it is justifiable to develop an entirely new transport protocol that is not a variant of TCP. Toward this end, we present a new reliable transport layer protocol for ad hoc networks called ATP (ad hoc transport protocol). We show through ns2-based simulations that ATP outperforms default TCP as well as TCP-ELFN and ATCP.     

Accelerating peer-to-peer networks for video streaming using multipoint-to-point communication

Existing transport layer protocols such as TCP and UDP are designed specifically for point-to-point communication. The increased popularity of peer-to-peer networking has brought changes in the Internet that provided users with potentially multiple replicated sources for content retrieval. However, applications that leverage such parallelism have thus far been limited to non-real-time file downloads. In this article we consider the problem of multipoint-to-point video streaming over peer-to-peer networks. We present a transport layer protocol called R/sup 2/CP that effectively enables real-time multipoint-to-point video streaming. R/sup 2/CP is a receiver-driven multistate transport protocol. It requires no coordination between multiple sources, accommodates flexible application layer reliability semantics, uses TCP-friendly congestion control, and delivers to the video stream the aggregate of the bandwidths available on the individual paths. Simulation results show great performance benefits using R/sup 2/CP in peer-to-peer networks.     

An End-To-End Approach for Transparent Mobility Across Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

With the advent of a myriad of wireless networking technologies, a mobile host today can potentially be equipped with multiple wireless interfaces that have access to different wireless networks. It is widely perceived that future generation wireless networks will exhibit a similar trend in supporting a large variety of heterogeneous wireless access technologies that a mobile host can choose from. In this paper, we consider such a multi-homed mobile host and propose an end-to-end solution that enables the seamless use of heterogeneous wireless access technologies. The unique features of the proposed solution include: (i) a purely end-to-end approach to handle host mobility that requires no support from the underlying network infrastructure, (ii) seamless vertical handoffs when the mobile host migrates from one access network to another, (iii) ability to support different congestion control schemes for a live connection traversing different interfaces, and (iv) effective bandwidth aggregation when the mobile host has simultaneous access to multiple networks. We present the design and details of the proposed approach, and evaluate its performance through simulations and real-life field experiments.