Capacity Gain of Mixed Multicast/Unicast Transport Schemes in a TV Distribution Network

This paper presents three approaches to estimate the required resources in an infrastructure where digital TV channels can be delivered in unicast or multicast (broadcast) mode. Such situations arise for example in Cable TV, IPTV distribution networks or in (future) hybrid mobile TV networks. The three approaches presented are an exact calculation, a Gaussian approximation and a simulation tool. We investigate two scenarios that allow saving bandwidth resources. In a static scenario, the most popular channels are multicast and the less popular channels rely on unicast. In a dynamic scenario, the list of multicast channels is dynamic and governed by the users' behavior. We prove that the dynamic scenario always outperforms the static scenario. We demonstrate the robustness, versatility and the limits of our three approaches. The exact calculation application is limited because it is computationally expensive for cases with large numbers of users and channels, while the Gaussian approximation is good exactly for such systems. The simulation tool takes long to yield results for small blocking probabilities. We explore the capacity gain regions under varying model parameters. Finally, we illustrate our methods by discussing some realistic network scenarios using channel popularities based on measurement data as much as possible.     

The influence of broadcast traffic on IEEE 802.11 DCF networks

The performance of the IEEE 802.11 protocol depends on multiple factors. One of them is related with the relative amounts of broadcast and unicast traffic in the total load due to the coexistence of the different transmission schemes applied to each of these types of traffic. This paper presents an analytical model to compute the 802.11 probability of a successful transmission of a frame and the average transmission delay assuming the presence of both unicast and broadcast traffic. Several realistic issues are addressed, as pre- and post-transmission backoffs, variable frame length and finite MAC buffers. Broadcast frame transmission has a swifter algorithm. When compared to broadcast, unicast frame transmission exhibits a more reliable scheme to avoid a frame from being discarded when it collides, but creates a trade off as it can introduce larger transmission delays. Simulation results are presented and compared to the analytical computations validating the model’s accuracy. Finally, interesting results related with the influence of the amount of broadcast or unicast traffic on the network’s performance for non-saturation and saturation operating zones are discussed for different data transmission rates. This is particularly relevant as most of the ad hoc routing algorithms rely heavily on broadcast.     

多网融合承载的P2P直播覆盖网优化关键问题分析

P2P直播作为流媒体传输中IP组播的替代方案,其物理承载以IP单播为基础。而近年来P2P直播在实际使用中反映出IP单播在传输性能上的瓶颈。随着技术、产业和政策的发展,单播、组播和广播三种物理传输网逐渐融合,P2P覆盖网不但能够将多网的接入融合提升为应用融合,更应该利用多网融合的优势提高P2P直播的性能。从P2P直播网的应用情况、覆盖网与物理网的融合以及P2P直播分发模式三个方面,分析了直播覆盖网利用多网融合优势的关键问题,最后总结了目前P2P直播中存在的可改进因素,并指出了利用多网融合进行P2P直播技术优化的研究重点。     

一种跨层协助的Ad hoc无线网络广播策略

在Ad hoc无线网络中,对全网范围进行广播有着广泛的应用。而Ad hoc网络节点资源、网络资源严重受限,广播引起的广播风暴问题加剧了资源的消耗。本文提出一种跨层协助的广播策略,该策略利用一跳邻节点的信息和物理层、数据链路层的信息统一在MAC设置退避时间,并根据发送节点密度自适应调整退避的时间,减少转播冗余、冲突发生的概率和延迟,确保了广播的可达性。仿真结果也表明提高了广播的效率。     

Association management for data dissemination over wireless mesh networks

To enable multimedia broadcasting services in mesh networks, it is critical to optimize the broadcast traffic load. Traditionally, users associate with access points (APs) with the strongest signal strength. We explore the concept of dual-association, where the AP for unicast traffic and the AP for broadcast traffic are independently chosen by exploiting overlapping coverages that are typical in mesh networks. The goal of our proposed solution is to optimize the overall network load by exploiting the flexibility provided by independent selection of unicast and broadcast APs. We propose a novel cost metric based on ETT (Expected Transmission Time) and the number of nodes in range of the APs, that are advertised in the beacons from the APs. Users periodically scan and associate with the AP which has the lowest cost metric. The proposed approach reduces the number of APs that handle the broadcast traffic resulting in a heavy reduction in control and data packet overhead. This leads to higher packet delivery rate and enhanced video quality measured in terms of PSNR. Our approach allows the freed up resources at APs to increase the unicast throughput. We compare the performance of our approach with traditional signal strength based association using extensive simulations and real experiments on an indoor testbed of 180 IEEE 802.11b based devices.     

Efficient broadcasting in ad hoc wireless networks using directional antennas

Using directional antennas to conserve bandwidth and energy consumption in ad hoc wireless networks (or simply ad hoc networks) is becoming popular. However, applications of directional antennas for broadcasting have been limited. We propose a novel broadcast protocol called directional self-pruning (DSP) for ad hoc wireless networks using directional antennas. DSP is a nontrivial generalization of an existing localized deterministic broadcast protocol using omnidirectional antennas. Compared with its omnidirectional predecessor, DSP uses about the same number of forward nodes to relay the broadcast packet, while the number of forward directions that each forward node uses in transmission is significantly reduced. With the lower broadcast redundancy, DSP is more bandwidth and energy-efficient. DSP is based on 2-hop neighborhood information and does not rely on location or angle-of-arrival (AoA) information. Two special cases of DSP are discussed: the first one preserves shortest paths in reactive routing discoveries; the second one uses the directional reception mode to minimize broadcast redundancy. DSP is a localized protocol. Its expected number of forward nodes is O(1) times the optimal value. An extensive simulation study using both custom and ns2 simulators show that DSP significantly outperforms both omnidirectional broadcast protocols and existing directional broadcast protocols.     

A Polynomial Time Solution to Minimum Forwarding Set Problem in Wireless Networks under Unit Disk Coverage Model

Network-wide broadcast (simply broadcast) is a frequently used operation in wireless ad hoc networks (WANETs). One promising practical approach for energy-efficient broadcast is to use localized algorithms to minimize the number of nodes involved in the propagation of the broadcast messages. In this context, the minimum forwarding set problem (MFSP) (also known as multipoint relay (MPR) problem) has received a considerable attention in the research community. Even though the general form of the problem is shown to be NP-complete, the complexity of the problem has not been known under the practical application context of ad hoc networks. In this paper, we present a polynomial time algorithm to solve the MFSP for wireless network under unit disk coverage model. We prove the existence of some geometrical properties for the problem and then propose a polynomial time algorithm to build an optimal solution based on these properties. To the best of our knowledge, our algorithm is the first polynomial time solution to the MFSP under the unit disk coverage model. We believe that the work presented in this paper will have an impact on the design and development of new algorithms for several wireless network applications including energy-efficient multicast, broadcast, and topology control protocols for WANETs and sensor networks.     

无线传感器网络的安全地理位置跨层协议

许多无线传感器网络(WSN)协议设计过程中,没有考虑到安全问题。提出一种安全地理位置跨层协议(Secure Geo-graphic Integrated Protocol,SGIP)。在安全协议的设计过程中,同时考虑了安全引导过程。首先改进了基于位置的密钥引导方案,使其不但充分利用地理信息,而且可以同时为广播包和单播包加密,并且转发区域内所有节点都与源节点有共享密钥。在此基础上,采用基于MAC层竞争的地理路由选择算法,并对不同数据包采用不同的加密方式,设计了安全的路由/MAC跨层协议。分析表明协议具有很好的安全性能,并且开销较小。     

蜂窝网络上的路由算法*

主要研究蜂窝网络上的无死锁单播路由算法和一对全的广播路由算法。基于蜂窝网络的砖形画法,利用二维网络维序路由的基本思想和两个虚拟网络实现了无死锁的最短单播路由算法,并证明了算法的无死锁性。然后基于这个单播路由算法和线列上的广播算法,用软件实现了蜂窝网络上一对全的广播路由算法,经过简单比较得出该广播算法比以往的算法在通信效率上有了极大的提高。     

A collision avoidance scheme for the synchronized broadcast packets in a multi-AP Wi-Fi broadcasting system

A Wi-Fi broadcasting system is a kind of Mobile-TV system that transmits multimedia content over Wi-Fi networks. The specialty of the system is that it takes advantage of broadcast packets for streaming to be scalable to the number of users. However, the loss rate of broadcast packets is much higher than that of unicast ones because MAC layer retransmission is not applied on broadcast packets. To recover lost packets, a packet level Forward Error Correction (FEC) scheme is usually used in Wi-Fi broadcasting systems. But it introduces additional transmission overhead, which is usually proportional to the packet loss rate. So it is important to reduce the packet loss rate to build an efficient and reliable Wi-Fi broadcasting system. While past studies have considered only single-AP systems, our study focuses on a multi-AP system which is designed to cover a much larger area. We found a specific packet collision problem that increases packet loss rate significantly in a multi-AP system. It is caused by the simultaneous arrival and transmission of a broadcast packet at and by APs. We identify two scenarios of the collision that depend on the channel state at the time of packet arrival. We propose two collision avoidance methods to handle these scenarios: Broadcast Packet Scheduling Method (BPSM) and Adaptive Contention Window-Sizing Method(ACWSM). We implement both methods in our multi-AP Wi-Fi broadcasting system and verify their effectiveness through experiments.     

对IEEE 802.11 MAC层协议公平性改进的研究

Ad Hoc网络中基于IEEE 802.11的MAC层协议采用CSMA/CA机制,通过侦听只能获取一跳范围内节点的信息,存在隐终端问题,影响了网络流调度的公平性.文中对IEEE 802.11提出了一种修改方案,该方案通过邻居结点间的信息交换,使网络中每个节点具有其二跳范围内所有结点的信息,以发现网络中的隐终端,提高网络流调度的公平性.对比仿真实验结果表明,修改后的IEEE 802.11与原协议的网络吞吐量基本相当,但具有更好的公平性.     

A medium access control protocol that supports a seamless handover in wireless sensor networks

This paper introduces a mobility-aware medium access control protocol for multi-hop wireless sensor networks (MA-MAC). The protocol evaluates the RSSI values of acknowledgement packets and determines whether a gradual deterioration in the RSSI values eventually leads to a disconnection. If it does, it initiates a handover by switching transmission from a unicast to a broadcast mode and by embedding neighbour discovery requests in the broadcast data packets. While the mobile node continues transmitting data packets via the existing link, the neighbour discovery requests enable it to discover new nodes that can serve as intermediate nodes. Once an intermediate node is found, the mobile node establishes a link with it and switches transmission back to unicast. Conceptually, MA-MAC's handover feature can be implemented by extending any of the existing transmitter initiated, energy-efficient protocols such as XMAC or BMAC. Our present implementation is based on the XMAC protocol. The paper reports how the protocol performs as the speed of mobility, handover threshold, and sending interval vary.     

Dk-hop: 一个有向k跳无线干扰模型

无线链路调度算法的性能直接受无线干扰模型准确性的影响. 尽管由于其简单性而被广泛采用, k跳干扰模型并不能准确建模真实的无线干扰特性, 从而导致链路调度算法的理论性能与实际性能之间存在很大差异. 本文考虑无线传输方向性因素对干扰的影响, 提出了Dk-hop无线干扰模型. 该模型有效排除了k跳隐藏链路, 从而更准确地对无线干扰进行了建模.理论分析表明, 当k值不超过IR+1时(IR为载波感知距离和传输距离之比), Dk-hop比k跳干扰模型更为准确, 且仍然保持了k跳干扰模型的简单性. 为与真实的无线干扰保持接近, k的合理取值范围应为[IR-2, IR+1].     

Quantitative performance comparison of different content distribution modes

We develop methods for quantifying the gain of using multicast or a combination of broadcast and unicast for transmitting popular content in telecommunication networks. The gain is evaluated in a single link, such as the radio interface of a cellular network. Two approaches to define such a gain are presented: one based on the average link occupancy, and another based on the blocking probability. The developed methods enable determining how popular the most popular contents should be in order to justify the use of multicast or a combination of broadcast and unicast from a performance point of view.     

无线自组网AODV路由协议的实现

简要描述了无线自组网中的研究热点之一AODV路由协议的算法,然后设计了一种兼容传统TCP/IP、支持广播和单播两种数据通信服务的实现体系.详细介绍了实现的具体细节,经测试和评估表明,该实现体系能够高效地创建和维护路由.     

多单播模型下的网络编码研究

每个信源-信宿对之间只有一个商品流(Commodity)唯一地表示从信源到信宿的流量,该模型称为多单播模型.由于无线网络、P2P等应用均可看作基于多单播模型,所以如何在多单播模型下提升网络的性能成为研究的重点.网络编码近年来作为能有效提升网络性能的方法之一,其应用于多单播模型下的各种科学问题成为研究热点.本文研究多单播模型下的网络编码关键理论,主要内容包括网络容量区域、编码构造算法和联合编码等方面,最后讨论基于多单播模型下网络编码的研究前景.     

IP组播通信的研究与实现

组播（Multicast)是计算机网络中的一种特殊的、高效的通信方式，在这种方式中， 发送者有选择地向一组接收者发送信息，兼有单播方式和广播方式的优点，在多点通信中具有不可替代的作用，该文描述了组播的机制和特点，具体介绍了利用Windows Socket中的相关函数进行组播通信的实现过程。     

An interference-aware multichannel media access control protocol for wireless sensor networks

Scalable Parallel Systems (SPS) have offered a challenging model of computing and poses fascinating optimizations in sensor networks. With the development of sensor hardware technology, a certain sensor node is equipped with a radio transceiver that can be tuned to work on multiple channels. In this paper, we develop a novel interference-aware multichannel media access control (IMMAC) protocol for wireless sensor networks, which takes advantage of multichannel availability. Firstly, each node is assigned with a quiescent channel to reduce hidden terminal beforehand, and then it makes channel adjustment according to dynamic traffic. Secondly, a scalable multichannel media access control protocol is designed to make a tradeoff between channel switching overhead and fairness, and it effectively supports for node unicast and broadcast based on the receiver-directed channel switching. We have implemented simulation to evaluate the performance of IMMAC by comparing with other relevant protocols. The results show that our protocol exhibits more prominent ability, which utilizes multichannel to make parallel transmission and reduce hidden terminal problems effectively in resource-constrained wireless sensor networks.     

新型多层联合组通信模型的设计与性能分析

针对流媒体业务需要网络提供大规模组通信支持的应用需求,将网络层组通信模型和应用层组通信模型,按域内和域间的网络划分进行巧妙地联合部署,提出了"域间单播 域内组播"或"域间组播 域内单播"的新型多层联合组通信模型,为下一代网络的组通信模型发展提供了一种全新的技术途径.性能分析表明,多层联合组通信模型继承了单层组通信模型的技术优势,改善了其存在的技术缺陷,在时延、抖动和丢包率等关键性能指标上均要明显优于目前的单播通信模型.     

基于端到端的单播层析网络时延分布

推断网络内部各链路的特性,已成为管理和评估大型电信网络的重要条件.通过某个特定路径直接监测每个链路是不现实的,所以一般通过发送端到端的探测包,利用网络的终端节点来收集网络链路的特征信息.通过单播探测包方法来推断链路的时延特性.针对网络内部链路时延累积量生成函数(CGF),提出一种基于端到端的单播探测包时延测量的偏差校正...