A per-application mobility management platform for application-specific handover decision in overlay networks

With the advance of various wireless access technologies, the demand for a mobile user equipped with multiple air interfaces simultaneously executing diverse applications emerged. In such network environments, per-application mobility management is a key to allow each application of an end user device to dynamically and fully take advantage of the most suitable access technology. In this paper, we devised a comprehensive architectural platform with cross-layer techniques to realize this disruptive technology, i.e., per-application mobility management. The proposed platform enables the triggering of vertical handover decisions based on the dynamic measurements from the entire protocol stack. For per-application, the handover decision as well as the mobility management and the transport/application protocol control adaptation for handover performance optimization are made with cross-layer techniques. Through the simulation results, it is shown that multi-layer handover triggering of the proposed platform enhances the QoS of the application services by making handover decisions when the QoS requirements of an application is not satisfied as well as when a mobile user moves out of the current access network in overlay network environments. It is also presented that per-application handover based on the proposed platform enhances the QoS of the application services compared to the handover approaches which make every on-going service flows handover together to the same access network.     

Quantitative QoS Management Implement Mechanism in IP-DiffServ

In this paper, a quantitative QoS management implement mechanism in IP-DiffServ is presented. The approach has three merits: (1) it optimizes both the route selected for service class by traffic engineering in network layer and the service class selected for the user services by network plan in service layer, (2) it ensures quantitative QoS for the user service in DiffServ, (3) it achieves high resource utilization, and achieves better performance with less cost for the user service and selected route. Simulation has verified these merits.     

QoS-TEOS: QoS Guaranteed Throughput-Efficiency Optimal Distributed Scheduling in WiMAX Mesh Networks

WiMAX distributed scheduling can be modeled as two procedures: three-way handshaking procedure and data subframe scheduling procedure. Due to manipulating data transmission directly, data subframe scheduling has a closer relationship with user Quality of Service (QoS) satisfaction, and has more severe impact on network performance, compared with handshaking procedure. A QoS guaranteed Throughput-Efficiency Optimal distributed data subframe Scheduling scheme, named as QoS-TEOS, is proposed. QoS-TEOS achieves QoS guarantee through modeling services into different ranks and assigning them with corresponding priorities. A service with higher priority is scheduled ahead of that with lower priority and offered with high QoS quality. Same kinds of services that request similar QoS quality are classified into one service set. Different service sets are scheduled with different strategies. QoS-TEOS promotes network performance through improving network throughput and efficiency. Theoretical analysis shows that the scheduled data transmission should balance data generation rate from upper layer and transmission rate of physical layer, to avoid network throughput and efficiency declining. Simulation results show that QoS-TEOS works excellently to achieve throughput-efficiency optimization and guarantee a high QoS.     

Bandwidth Aggregation-Aware Dynamic QoS Negotiation for Real-Time Video Streaming in Next-Generation Wireless Networks

In next generation wireless networks, Internet service providers (ISPs) are expected to offer services through several wireless technologies (e.g., WLAN, 3G, WiFi, and WiMAX). Thus, mobile computers equipped with multiple interfaces will be able to maintain simultaneous connections with different networks and increase their data communication rates by aggregating the bandwidth available at these networks. To guarantee quality-of-service (QoS) for these applications, this paper proposes a dynamic QoS negotiation scheme that allows users to dynamically negotiate the service levels required for their traffic and to reach them through one or more wireless interfaces. Such bandwidth aggregation (BAG) scheme implies transmission of data belonging to a single application via multiple paths with different characteristics, which may result in an out-of-order delivery of data packets to the receiver and introduce additional delays for packets reordering. The proposed QoS negotiation system aims to ensure the continuity of QoS perceived by mobile users while they are on the move between different access points, and also, a fair use of the network resources. The performance of the proposed dynamic QoS negotiation system is investigated and compared against other schemes. The obtained results demonstrate the outstanding performance of the proposed scheme as it enhances the scalability of the system and minimizes the reordering delay and the associated packet loss rate.     

面向用户需求的动态QoS服务选择方法研究

高效、准确地为用户选择满足其需求的软件服务一直是近年来的研究热点。服务质量（Quality of Service,QoS）是衡量软件服务性能的关键指标之一,考虑到同一服务在不同网络环境下QoS值的动态性,提出一种面向用户需求的动态QoS服务选择方法,简称URDQ方法。URDQ方法采用区间数的形式记录动态环境下候选服务的属性值范围,并基于用户需求对候选服务进行初步过滤;通过区间数模型对候选服务属性区间和用户需求区间进行相对优势度计算,将属性区间数转化为易于计算的实数;使用Skyline方法对候选服务集进行过滤,减小搜索空间;根据熵权法得到的客观权重并结合用户给定的主观权重,使用TOPSIS方法对Skyline服务集进行排序。仿真实验和对比实验验证了URDQ方法在动态网络环境下的可行性和有效性。     

Application-level QoS control for video-on-demand

User requirements and device heterogeneity call for Web services with differentiated quality of service (QoS). In particular, services with response-time constraints, such as video-on-demand (VoD), require the differentiation, control, and dynamic adaptation of QoS. Service providers and network operators need methodologies and mechanisms for managing runtime QoS. Using mobile agent technology, the ubiQoS middleware supports QoS tailoring and adaptation of video-on-demand flows in response to user preferences and terminal properties. The design, implementation, and deployment of QoS-aware Internet services can significantly benefit from a middleware approach at the application level. Our experimental results show the feasibility of application-level middleware solutions based on code mobility for Internet VoD services with differentiated QoS.     

A novel pricing approach to support QoS in 3G networks

Pricing in 3G and other communication networks may control and manage the utilisation of network resources. The available network resources get strained with increased usage levels, which results in poor service to the users. Most users prefer receiving high quality services at affordable costs. This requires the provision of QoS guarantees for network services at a low cost. In a real business scenario, this relationship is hard to achieve; moreover revenue sources for network operators have been shifting from the provision of network access to provisioning of rich services, e.g. multimedia services. To attain a functional compromise, we propose a pricing scheme that relies on service profiles to manage resource utilisation in a DiffServ-enabled 3G network. The service profiles define the QoS achieved for accessing services through a common resource pool, in which resource sharing is used to maximise network resource utilisation, user satisfaction and profits for the network operators. In an NGN scenario users would select pricing profiles according to their budgets, and the network will map these profiles to a set of QoS options that may translate to the choice of an access network for service access. In this paper, we present the mathematical model of the proposed pricing scheme, the proposed design of an evaluation framework, QoS performance results, and a service provisioning scenario illustrating the applicability of the proposed pricing scheme.     

基于模糊多目标决策的两跳中继蜂窝网络切换算法

简要介绍了在集成两跳Ad Hoc和蜂窝网络的结构下,触发网络进行切换的一些因素和两种路由代理发现算法,并且提出了一种新的基于模糊多目标决策方法的切换决定算法。算法从层次分析和模糊综合评价理论的思想出发,结合用户、终端、业务和网络信息,对网络链路的性能进行综合评价,选择出最适合用户业务请求的路径。仿真显示在用户可感知业务QoS下降的情况下,算法可以通过增加QoS的权重而切换到更好的网络链路上,从而为用户提供了“总是最好连接”的服务。     

基于马尔可夫链与服务质量的网络可用性

针对网络可用性在不同网络业务中的服务质量（QoS）存在差异,且与性能花费相互制约的问题,引入了马尔可夫链理论,在定义了基于业务开销最小的服务能力匹配度的基础上构建了基于马尔可夫链和QoS指标的网络可用性（MCQNA）评价模型。首先,从最能反映网络可用特征的QoS指标出发,兼顾性能开销,同时定义了代价函数,并且给出了状态转移矩阵;然后,通过平稳状态与网络可用性关系的分析,求解出平稳分布并作为QoS运行开销的动态权重,实现了以业务运行代价最小为特点的网络可用性评判。仿真结果表明,所提模型构建的遍历性转移矩阵存在平稳分布,对网络可用性评判是可行的。该模型能针对不同业务的QoS标准,且有效针对具体业务衡量网络的可用性。     

Access and service convergence over the mobile internet – A survey

Next generation heterogeneous wireless networks are expected to interwork with Internet Protocol (IP)-based infrastructures. Conventional network services operate like silos in that a specific set of services are offered over a specific type of access network. It is desirable for users to be able to roam between fixed and mobile networks that employ different access technologies. Therefore, mobility management with quality of service (QoS) support is of particular importance and one of the driving forces of convergence. Since service providers often provide more than one service to their subscribers, it is important to facilitate convergence of network charging architecture through a common charging framework. One of the main issues of IP-based convergence is security and privacy. This requires coordination of different security policies in diverse networks that have different security levels and capabilities. The business case for migration to an IP-based platform motivates operators to deliver more powerful services for customers as well as a better user experience. This paper provides an overview of converged mobile Internet architectures and their implications on QoS, charging/billing and security, as well as emerging business models for telecommunication services.     

具有任意自由度的B样条非均匀细分*

为了便于工程实际应用,非均匀细分方法现在已经成为计算机图形学和几何建模中的热点问题。本文提出一个具有任意自由度的B样条非均匀细分算法,其实现与B样条均匀细分即Lane–Riesenfeld细分方法相似。该算法包含了非均匀d环结构生成的双重控制点,其中d环相似于d度均匀B样条曲线的Lane-Riesenfeld算法中均匀的d环结构。Lane-Riesenfeld算法是由B样条曲线基函数的连续卷积公式直接得出的,而本文的算法是blossoming方法的一个扩展。对于非均匀B样条曲线来说,本文的节点插入方法比之前的方法更简单更有效。     

Analysis of Skype VoIP traffic in UMTS: End-to-end QoS and QoE measurements

In the future Internet, multi-network services will follow a new paradigm in which the intelligence of the network control is gradually moved to the edge of the network. This impacts both the objective Quality of Service (QoS) of the end-to-end connection as well as the subjective Quality of Experience (QoE) as perceived by the end user. Skype already offers such a multi-network Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephony service today. Due to its ease of use and a high sound quality, it becomes increasingly popular in the wired Internet.UMTS operators promise to offer large data rates which should suffice to support VoIP calls in a mobile environment. However, the success of those applications strongly depends on the corresponding QoE. In this work, we analyze the theoretically achievable as well as the actually achieved quality of IP-based voice calls using Skype. This is done performing measurements in both a real UMTS network and a testbed environment. The latter is used to emulate rate control mechanisms and changing system conditions of UMTS networks. The results show in how far Skype over UMTS is able to keep pace with existing mobile telephony systems and how it reacts to different network characteristics. The investigated performance measures comprise the QoE in terms of the MOS value and the QoS in terms of network-based factors like throughput, packet interarrival times, or packet loss.     

Specification,Mapping and Control for QoS Adaptation

In this paper we describe a fuzzy-control approach for quality of service (QoS) adaptation, needed in distributed multimedia applications. QoS adaptation is necessary (a) due to sudden variations in network resource availability, especially in the case of Internet, and (b) due to multiple applications requiring shared resource such as bandwidth. To solve the problem of QoS adaptation, several sub-problems need to be considered: (1) mapping of user perception and different combinations of application QoS values onto a uniform quality metric, (2) estimation, control and adjustment of application QoS parameters in case of network and other resource congestion, and (3) enforcement algorithm which reacts according to adapted QoS parameters. Our approach is to solve the QoS adaptation using the integration of (a) quality degree function, which maps the application QoS parameters into a metric, called quality degree, (b) fuzzy controller, which controls, estimates and adjusts the application QoS parameters according to resource availability, and (c) filter algorithms, which are the services to enforce the adapted QoS parameters. The quality degree function associates quality degree as the quality measure with different combinations of application QoS values. This function is influenced by the users perception of quality. The fuzzy control takes the results of the quality degree function, estimates the new quality degree and its corresponding quality level, predicts the new application QoS parameters, and adjusts them. The results of the adapted QoS parameters are then used by the filter algorithms to enforce the changes, proposed by the fuzzy controller, by allocating bandwidth to the application according to its QoS parameter values. We have implemented and applied the quality degree function, the fuzzy controller, and the filter algorithms to the video distribution system (VDS). The results of VDS over the local area network show that (1) the target system improves user perceived QoS at the receivers, and (2) the bandwidth utilization increases significantly when using our fuzzy-control approach for QoS adaptation.     

Mobile Agent-Based Performance Management for the Virtual Home Environment

Virtual Home Environment (VHE) encompasses the deployment and management of adaptable services that retain any personalized service aspects, irrespective of terminal, network' and geographic location. We assert that the dynamic nature of the VHE requires management capabilities that can be suitably provided through the use of mobile agent technology. We examine four different engineering solutions for the realization of a VHE performance management component that allows service adaptation in relation to the available network Quality-of-Service (QoS). The mobile agent approach is compared with competing technologies in order to identify the benefits of this novel application of mobile agents, discuss its drawbacks' and finally focus on the lessons learned from our prototype system. Although mobile agents are typically associated with increased performance costs, it is through agent migration that we were able to address the VHE requirements of universality, dynamic programmability, and network technology independence.     

一种基于QoS的Internet服务管理体系结构

服务定位协议(SLP)是IETF提出的基于IP网络的服务定位标准。而这一标准并没有考虑对QoS的支持。未来的互联网络是一个具有QoS保证的网络。服务发现仅仅是Internet服务管理中的一个方面，发现服务不是最终目的，最终目的是为了使用这一服务。在对SLP体系结构、下一代互联网QoS服务管理及相关技术充分研究的基础上，提出了一种新奇的基于QoS的Internet服务管理体系结构模型。为使在服务表示与发现层支持QoS，对SLP定位协议进行了一些扩充。对服务定位协议扩充后，当用户代理在向服务代理发布请求时，可以在请求消息中绑定QoS对象参数，一旦服务代理接收到这一消息，就可以利用这些QoS参数与域管理器进行协商，协商结果可通过服务代理反馈给用户代理。这样不仅减小了网络开销，而且降低了传统的用户代理与域管理器协商的次数，在服务发现的同时用户代理还可以直接获得该服务的QoS信息。     

User-perceived quality of service in wireless data networks

For so long, the term quality of service (QoS) has been a pursuit area for network engineers trying to dimension wireless networks to run in the most efficient way possible. Of late, there has been a trend reversal, looking at the user perceptions of the network performance to decide where dimensioning can have the greatest impact. This paper demonstrates the importance of defining the concept of user-perceived QoS and linking this to specific wireless data network parameters for some anticipated valuable applications. It has been shown that a quantitative rating can be obtained for a variety of important factors in the assessment of service quality, and mapped to specific values of multiple network parameters. We found QoS to be application-specific, where various applications require different levels of network performance to satisfy users. The role of physical location was also examined, investigating the influence of being indoors versus outdoors on the user perception of QoS.     

Context-aware QoS prediction for web service recommendation and selection

QoS prediction is one of the key problems in Web service recommendation and selection. The context information is a dominant factor affecting QoS, but is ignored by most of existing works. In this paper, we employ the context information, from both the user side and service side, to achieve superior QoS prediction accuracy. We propose two novel prediction models, which are capable of using the context information of users and services respectively. In the user side, we use the geographical information as the user context, and identify similar neighbors for each user based on the similarity of their context. We study the mapping relationship between the similarity value and the geographical distance. In the service side, we use the affiliation information as the service context, including the company affiliation and country affiliation. In the two models, the prediction value is learned by the QoS records of a user (or a service) and the neighbors. Also, we propose an ensemble model to combine the results of the two models. We conduct comprehensive experiments in two real-world datasets, and the experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our models.     

QoE prediction model for mobile video telephony

Interactive online video applications, such as video telephony, are known for their vulnerability to network condition. With the increasing usage of hand-held wireless mobile devices, which are capable of capturing and processing good quality videos, combined with the flexibility in an end-user movements have added new challenging factors for application providers and network operators. These factors affect the perceived video quality of mobile video telephony applications, unlike conventional video telephony over desktop computers. We investigate this impact on video quality of mobile video telephony in varying network conditions and end-users movement scenarios. Based on 312 live traces, we quantitatively derive the correlation between the perceived video quality and the network Quality of Service (QoS) and user mobility. With the results, we develop a Quality of Experience (QoE) prediction model for mobile video telephony using Support Vector Regression techniques. The prediction models display ≈ 0.8 pearson correlation with experimental data. Our methodology and findings can be used to guide the video telephony application providers and network operators to work towards satisfying end-user experience.     

GOS: a global optimal selection strategies for QoS-aware web services composition

Services composition technology provides a promising way to create new services in services-oriented architecture. However, some challenges are hindering the application of services composition. One of the major challenges encountered by composite services developer is how to effectively select a set of services across different autonomous regions (e.g., organization or business) to instantiate a composite service which can satisfy user’s QoS constraints. To solve QoS-aware Web service composition problem, this paper proposes a global optimization selection (GOS) approach based on prediction mechanism for QoS values of local services. The GOS includes two parts. First, the local preprocessing service selection algorithm can be used to increase composite services performance in run-time by predicting the change of service quality parameters. Second, GOS aims at enhancing the run-time performance of global selection by reducing QoS aggregation operations. The simulation results show that the GOS has excellent selection and lower execution cost than existing approaches.     

一种基于元策略的自适应移动切换控制方案

为有效保障移动用户不同业务的服务质量,拓展策略机制的应用,利用策略形式的业务QoS属性及移动节点移动和资源需求的预测信息,用元策略自动生成相应的控制策略,实现切换过程自适应的资源管理。通过分析和仿真,该自适应切换方案在保证切换掉线率的前提下,最小化新呼叫阻塞率,为用户提供较好的QoS保证,其特点在于自适应性,可以根据当前网络状况自动进行重要参数的调整,另外,使用策略,可提供不同的优先级,能方便地进行算法定义和选择,相对于传统方法更灵活。