Quality of service in telecommunications. I. Proposition of a QoSframework and its application to B-ISDN

The the quality of service (QoS) concept is becoming an ever more important issue in telecommunication and computer communication. The article focuses on the QoS notion and concept. The definition of QoS in the International Telecommunications Union-Telecommunications Sector (ITU-T) recommendations and the International Standards Organization (ISO) standards is analysed. Little is known about the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) performance requirements of the broadband integrated services digital network (B-ISDN) services, especially for multimedia applications. This is because the ATM performance requirements of multimedia applications depend not only on the diverse QoS requirements from application and user, but also on the protocol stacks and scheduling in end systems. Therefore, in order to guarantee QoS to the user, it is necessary to introduce a set of QoS parameters whose properties indicate the nature and requirements of the layered protocol stack. We describe how a proposed QoS framework can be applied to B-ISDN as a specific network. The QoS aspects related to B-ISDN signaling (the control plane) and the QoS aspects related to layer and plane management (the management plane) are described. We also describe how the QoS framework resides in a protocol stack and works together with the B-ISDN network management and signaling     

Dynamic Aggregation of Reservations for Internet Services

Global availability of on-demand services with an associated guaranteed quality-of-service (QoS) is still missing in the Internet today. The Differentiated Services architecture achieves scalability in the data plane by treating all flows with a specific type of service as one aggregate. In order to provide guaranteed end-to-end reservations, the control plane (e.g., performing admission control and management of resource reservations) has to be scalable as well. The DARIS architecture provides this essential linkage between scalability in the packet forwarding path and scalability of QoS management in the Internet. It comprises a novel concept of dynamic and hierarchical aggregation, which acts on the network level of autonomous systems (ASes). This relieves management entities in intermediate ASes of processing load by reducing their managed reservation states as well as the number of signaling messages that have to be processed significantly. Moreover, novel and special support for aggregation by a dedicated signaling protocol mechanism is provided.     

Evolution of the Internet QoS and support for soft real-time applications

The past few years have witnessed the emergence of many real-time networked applications on the Internet. These types of applications require special support from the underlying network such as reliability, timeliness, and guaranteed delivery, as well as different levels of service quality. Unfortunately, this support is not available within the current "best-effort" Internet architecture. In this paper, we review several mechanisms and frameworks proposed to provide network- and application-level quality of service (QoS) in the next-generation Internet. We first discuss the QoS requirements of many of the above-mentioned real-time applications, and then we categorize them according to the required service levels. We also describe the various building blocks often used in QoS approaches. We briefly present asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and Internet Protocol precedence. Then, we present and compare two service architectures recently adopted by the Internet Engineering Task Force, called integrated services (IntServ) and differentiated services (DiffServ), for providing per-flow and aggregated-flow service guarantees, respectively. We focus on DiffServ because it is a candidate QoS framework to be used in next-generation Internet along with multiprotocol label switching and traffic engineering. We also examine several operational and research issues that need to be resolved before such frameworks can be put in practice.     

DiffServ resource allocation for fast handoff in wireless mobileInternet

The next-generation wireless networks are evolving toward a versatile IP-based network that can provide various real-time multimedia services to mobile users. Two major challenges in establishing such a wireless mobile Internet are support of fast handoff and provision of quality of service (QoS) over IP-based wireless access networks. In this article, a DiffServ resource allocation architecture is proposed for the evolving wireless mobile Internet. The registration-domain-based scheme supports fast handoff by significantly reducing mobility management signaling. The registration domain is integrated with the DiffServ mechanism and provisions QoS guarantee for each service class by domain-based admission control. Furthermore, an adaptive assured service is presented for the stream class of traffic, where resource allocation is adjusted according to the network condition in order to minimize handoff call dropping and new call blocking probabilities     

End-to-End QoS for Video Delivery Over Wireless Internet

Providing end-to-end quality of service (QoS) support is essential for video delivery over the next-generation wireless Internet. We address several key elements in the end-to-end QoS support, including scalable video representation, network-aware end system, and network QoS provisioning. There are generally two approaches in QoS support: the network-centric and the end-system centric solutions. The fundamental problem in a network-centric solution is how to map QoS criterion at different layers respectively, and optimize total quality across these layers. We first present the general framework of a cross-layer network-centric solution, and then describe the recent advances in network modeling, QoS mapping, and QoS adaptation. The key targets in end-system centric approach are network adaptation and media adaptation. We present a general framework of the end-system centric solution and investigate the recent developments. Specifically, for network adaptation, we review the available bandwidth estimation and efficient video transport protocol; for media adaptation , we describe the advances in error control, power control, and corresponding bit allocation. Finally, we highlight several advanced research directions.     

QoS in DSL access

Which enrichments are required for the DSL architecture to transform the DSL access network from a vehicle for best effort Internet access to a multiservice platform enabling added value conversational and data services? This article details an architecture for DSL access facilitating IP service guarantees leveraging the available QoS mechanisms in the transport-technology-specific data plane, while extending the control plane. Enhanced resource and information control, policy enforcement, and advanced IP connection establishment mechanisms are key elements for the network access provider to enter the value chain for delivery of IP services.     

An Intra-domain Mobility Handling Scheme Across All-IP Wireless Networks

The rapid growth of wireless network technology such as HSDPA and WiMAX, has lead to greater demand for access to Internet via mobile hosts. Supporting mobile connection with fast and smooth roaming across heterogeneous wireless technologies has been an important challenge over past years. In this paper, a novel multilayer scheme for QoS-aware intra-domain mobility management is proposed. The mobility support capability is embedded in key components for the domain access network, namely, the Paging Access Routers and the Mobility-support Anchor Servers (MASs). The MASs are organized in three layers; starting from the top layer Superior-MASs, Middle-MASs and Inferior-MASs, respectively. The proposed scheme identified mobility support functionality, includes intra-domain anchor specification, route optimization algorithm, intra/inter-anchor mobility support, paging and authentication management. Simulation results of the proposed scheme show fair performance especially in the presence of QoS sensitive services.     

一种提供电信级QoS的IP网络体系架构

本文将IP业务网络系统按照功能分为三个平面:承载面、信令面和业务面.承载面承载媒体与信令流,信令面完成各种控制功能,应用面是媒体资源服务器.承载面使用MPLS技术,进行带宽预规划,满足需要QoS的业务,并在接入层完成对用户接入及流量的各种控制功能.互联网业务则走普通的IP路由.从而实现基于IP网络,既能提供保证电信级QoS的业务,同时支持普通互联网业务的网络体系结构,具有良好的网络与业务扩展性.     

互联网的服务质量控制和管理

文章介绍了互联网的业务管理模式、服务质量控制和管理体系结构,并对服务质量控制和管理的关键技术,如集成服务、区分服务、服务质量计费、服务质量测量等,进行了分析。     

Multi-domain architecture for policy management inumts ip multimedia subsystem

The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) offers IP-based multimedia applications and services with end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) guarantee. The key component providing these services is the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) that uses Service-Based Local Policy (SBLP) management for QoS control. To support end-to-end QoS, the UMTS IMS network should be scalable, reliable and flexible in policy deployment and enforcement, characteristics that are not found in single-domain policy architecture. A hybrid policy architecture is proposed, in which a hierarchical architecture is applied to the multi-domain environment in a single operator UMTS IMS network, while a peering architecture is employed in a multi-operator UMTS IMS network. The proposed multi-domain policy architecture potentially minimizes the session setup delay and policy exchange traffic while maximizing network scalability.     

一体化标识网络体系及关键技术

现有互联网由于原始设计模式方面的不足,不仅难以满足网络及服务的多元多样性需求,而且在移动性、安全性、可控可管性及服务质量支持方面存在着严重弊端。为解决这些问题,文章提出了一体化标识网络体系,创建了一体化标识网络的＂基础设施层＂和＂普适服务层＂理论及关键技术,建立了原型系统对上述网络体系与关键技术进行验证。实验结果表明,这种新的网络体系在有效地解决现有互联网安全、移动、可控可管等严重弊端的同时,可支持普适服务。     

Intelligent network control middleware platform

As multivendor, multitechnology networks are deployed in a carrier's network, a network operator must integrate these networks to have a unified control platform to lower operational costs and deliver customer-specified QoS. An intelligent network control middleware framework for multivendor networks is described in this article. The architectural framework is designed to control and manage next generation network elements as well as legacy telecom networks. The layers within the framework include mediation, control plane, network resource management, and application programmable interfaces. An independent, distributed control plane aims at service interoperability and network scalability. An experimental study on circuit provisioning using the proposed middleware framework is conducted on Sun Lab servers. The middleware performance results are reported. Experimentation architecture and metrics can be extended to a performance benchmark upon which the control plane products can be evaluated.     

Service overlay networks: SLAs, QoS, and bandwidth provisioning

We advocate the notion of service overlay network (SON) as an effective means to address some of the issues, in particular, end-to-end quality of service (QoS), plaguing the current Internet, and to facilitate the creation and deployment of value-added Internet services such as VoIP, Video-on-Demand, and other emerging QoS-sensitive services. The SON purchases bandwidth with certain QoS guarantees from the individual network domains via bilateral service level agreement (SLA) to build a logical end-to-end service delivery infrastructure on top of the existing data transport networks. Via a service contract, users directly pay the SON for using the value-added services provided by the SON. In this paper, we study the bandwidth provisioning problem for a SON which buys bandwidth from the underlying network domains to provide end-to-end value-added QoS sensitive services such as VoIP and Video-on-Demand. A key problem in the SON deployment is the problem of bandwidth provisioning, which is critical to cost recovery in deploying and operating the value-added services over the SON. The paper is devoted to the study of this problem. We formulate the bandwidth provisioning problem mathematically, taking various factors such as SLA, service QoS, traffic demand distributions, and bandwidth costs. Analytical models and approximate solutions are developed for both static and dynamic bandwidth provisioning. Numerical studies are also performed to illustrate the properties of the proposed solutions and demonstrate the effect of traffic demand distributions and bandwidth costs on SON bandwidth provisioning.     

一类基于源路由的多约束实时组播路由优化控制算法

随着Internet网络的不断发展,它将成为未来网络服务的平台,而未来网络服务的种类又是多种多样的,既有传统的尽量服务(Best-Effort Service)应用,又有对网络服务质量 [1](QoS:Quality of Service)有着特殊需求的应用.本文探讨了如何在网络层路由这一层面进行QoS组播路由支持的问题.目前,已有许多组播QoS路由算法提出,在QoS路由性能、网络资源使用效率以及路由吞吐率等方面取得了许多好的成果.针对这些QoS路由算法中存在的一些问题,提出了一种组播QoS路由算法.实验结果表明:该算法在适应网络拓扑结构、网络规模、对称/非对称链路负载等方面,与其它QoS路由算法相比,在算法性能上有了一定的改进.     

End-to-end QoS resource management for an IP-based DWDM access network

The ever-increasing use of broad-band Internet and complex multimedia applications is pushing fiber closer and closer to the homes. Within the European project IST HARMONICS (Hybrid Access Reconfigurable Multi-wavelength Optical Networks for IP-based Communication Services), an optical access feeder network and resource management framework were developed that tackle this demand for bandwidth and the desire to stimulate the convergence of last-mile access technologies. To cope with the lack of bandwidth in the access and last-mile networks and the different needs of applications and users, the developed management system provides end-to-end quality of service (QoS) while integrating multiple technologies. In this paper, a detailed overview of the end-to-end QoS management framework and novel time slot/wavelength MAC protocol for the optical feeder network is given. End-to-end QoS is based on Differentiated services (DiffServ) at layer 3, various QoS supporting technologies at layer 2, and QoS mappings between both layers. The paper will also focus on the field trial results of the HARMONICS project and give some guidelines for possible problems and solutions in this area.     

Service‐oriented 5G network architecture: an end‐to‐end software defining approach

With the ever‐increasing mobile demands and proliferation of mobile services, mobile Internet has penetrated into every aspect of human life. Although the 4G mobile communication system is now being deployed worldwide, simply evolving or incrementally improving the current mobile networks can no longer keep the pace with the proliferation of mobile services. Against this background, aiming to achieve service‐oriented 5G mobile networks, this article proposes an end‐to‐end software defining architecture, which introduces a logically centralized control plane and dramatically simplifies the data‐plane. The control plane decomposes the diversified mobile service requirements and, correspondingly, controls the functions and behaviors of data‐plane devices. Consequently, the network directly orients towards services, and the devices are dynamically operated according to the service requirements. Therefore, the proposed architecture efficiently guarantees the end‐to‐end QoS and quality of experience. The challenges and key technologies of our architecture are also discussed in this article. Real traces‐based simulations validate the performance advantages of proposed architecture, including energy efficiency and the whole performance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cross-Layer Design for QoS in Wireless Mesh Networks

Cross-layer design for quality of service (QoS) in wireless mesh networks (WMNs) has attracted much research interest recently. Such networks are expected to support various types of applications with different and multiple QoS and grade-of-service (GoS) requirements. In order to achieve this, several key technologies spanning all layers, from physical up to network layer, have to be exploited and novel algorithms for harmonic and efficient layer interaction must be designed. Unfortunately most of the existing works on cross-layer design focus on the interaction of up to two layers while the GoS concept in WMNs has been overlooked. In this paper, we propose a unified framework that exploits the physical channel properties and multi-user diversity gain of WMNs and by performing intelligent route selection and connection admission control provides both QoS and GoS to a variety of underlying applications. Extensive simulation results show that our proposed framework can successfully satisfy multiple QoS requirements while it achieves higher network throughput and lower outage as compared to other scheduling, routing and admission control schemes.     

Advanced QoS provisioning in IP networks: the European premium IP projects

This article describes the current evolution of QoS architectures, mechanisms, and protocols in the Internet, as it is ongoing in the framework of the European Union funded research projects on premium IP networks. A short review of the proposed standard approaches to QoS (e.g., differentiated services, integrated services, and label switching technologies) is given. Then we focus on the state-of-the-art architectures, mainly based on DiffServ concepts. Several issues arise when trying to implement these architectures in the real world: QoS aspects, network monitoring of the offered QoS, and end-user control of received QoS. The article then discusses the existing results and the current direction of European research and development in these areas.     

A policy based framework for quality of service management in software defined networks

Growth in multimedia traffic over the Internet increases congestion in the network architecture. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a novel paradigm that solves the congestion problem and allows the network to be dynamic, intelligent, and it centrally controls the network devices. SDN has many advantages in comparison to traditional networks, such as separation of forwarding and control plane from devices, global centralized control, management of network traffic. We design a policy-based framework to enhance the Quality of Service (QoS) of multimedia traffic flows in a potential SDN environment. We phrase a max-flow-min-cost routing problem to determine the routing paths and presented a heuristic method to route the traffic flows in the network in polynomial time. The framework monitors the QoS parameters of traffic flows and identifies policy violations due to link congestion in the network. The introduced approach dynamically implements policy rules to SDN switches upon detection of policy violations and reroutes the traffic flows. The results illustrate that the framework achieves a reduction in end-to-end delay, average jitter, and QoS violated flows by 24%, 37%, and 25%, respectively, as compared to the Delay Minimization method. Furthermore, the proposed approach has achieved better results when compared to SDN without policy-based framework and reduced end-to-end delay, average jitter, and QoS violated flows by 51%, 62%, and 28%, respectively.