Adaptive scheduling mechanism for IPTV over WiMAX IEEE 802.16j networks

A WiMAX technology is a very promising Broadband Wireless Access technology that is able to transmit different service types. This latter can have different constraints such as traffic rate, maximum latency, and tolerated jitter. The IEEE 802.16 Medium Access Control specifies five types of QoS classes: UGS, rtPS, ertPS, nrtPS, and BE. However, the IEEE 802.16 standard does not specify the scheduling algorithm to be used. Operators have the choice among many existing scheduling techniques. Also, they can propose their own scheduling algorithms. In this paper, we propose a scheduling strategy (Adaptive Weighted Round Robin, AWRR) for various Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services traffic over 802.16j networks. Our scheme adapts dynamically the scheduler operation to according queue load and quality of service constraints. In particular, the proposed mechanism gives more priority to high definition television and standard definition television traffic by using two schedulers. The proposed scheduling algorithm has been simulated using the QualNet network simulator. The experimental results show that our scheduler schemes AWRR have a better performance than the traditional scheduling techniques for rtPS traffic, which allows ensuring QoS requirements for IPTV application. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Scalable Multicast Provisioning in DiffServ with MPLS Labeling

The phenomenal growth of multimedia applications imposes scalable and efficient network support. The DiffServ and MPLS architectures were developed to provide QoS. The combination of both architectures presents a very attractive strategy to backbone network providers. However, integrating native IP multicasting with MPLS supports DiffServ is a quite comple issue. Major problems are: the lack of labels in MPLS networks, the core routers simplicity in DiffServ and the multicast state scalability problems, since it requires routers to keep a forwarding state for every multicast tree passing through it. In addition, the number of states grows with the number of groups. Under such circumstance, we propose an hybrid label aggregation algorithm in order to solve multicast scalability problem and provide a solution for multicast in MPLS support DiffServ. In the proposed scheme, one label is assigned per multicast groups (logical aggregation) and different multicast groups sharing the same output interface in a router are aggregated locally (physical aggregation). Also, in order to support the proposed algorithm, we propose a separate treatment and labels space (prime numbers range) for multicast traffic. The proposed solution allows consuming fewer labels, reducing the forwarding table and consequently the total packet processing delay.     

Increasing end‐to‐end fairness over IEEE 802.11e‐based wireless mesh networks

In this paper, we discuss the issue of fairness in the IEEE802.11e over wireless mesh networks. Fairness is an important factor that we have to achieve before talking about QoS. Inspired by social networks approximations, and to achieve fairness and provide QoS by regulating heterogeneous traffic, we extended the original IEEE802.11e protocol by introducing a new algorithm based on the ‘token bucket’ concept. We also treat the problem of exposed/hidden nodes. Simulation results show that the proposed approach offers better performance than the IEEE802.11e one. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An efficient QoS routing algorithm for solving MCP in ad hoc networks

Providing guaranteed quality of service (QoS) in wireless networks is a key issue for deploying multimedia applications. To support such a QoS, an arduous problem concerning how to find a feasible end to end path to satisfy multiple QoS constraints should be studied. In general, multi-constrained path selection, with or without optimization, is an NP-complete problem that cannot be exactly solved in polynomial time. Approximation algorithms and heuristics with polynomial and pseudo-polynomial time complexities are often used to deal with this problem. However, existing solutions suffer either from excessive computational complexities that cannot be used for multimedia applications in ad hoc networks characterized by mobility and performance constraints (e.g., limited energy, wireless medium, etc.). Recently a promising heuristic algorithm H_MCOP using a non linear Lagrange relaxation path functions has demonstrated an improvement in its success rate and in finding feasible paths. However, the H_MCOP is not suitable for ad hoc networks and has not exploited the full capability that a Lagrange relaxation could offer. In this paper, we propose an efficient multi-constrained path heuristic called E_MCP, which exploits efficiently the Lagrange relaxation and enhances the path search process to be adequate to mobile ad hoc networks. Using extensive simulations on random mobile network with correlated and uncorrelated link weights, we show that the same level of computational complexity, E_MCP can achieve a higher success ratio of finding feasible paths.     

Multicast Support in DiffServ Using Mobile Agents

Many multicast applications, such as video‐on‐demand and video conferencing, desire quality of service (QoS) support from an underlying network. The differentiated services (DiffServ) approach will bring benefits for theses applications. However, difficulties arise while integrating native IP multicasting with DiffServ, such as multicast group states in the core routers and a heterogeneous QoS requirement within the same multicast group. In addition, a missing per‐flow reservation in DiffServ and a dynamic join/leave in the group introduce heavier and uncontrollable traffic in a network. In this paper, we propose a distributed and stateless admission control in the edge routers. We also use a mobile agents‐based approach for dynamic resource availability checking. In this approach, mobile agents act in a parallel and distributed fashion and cooperate with each other in order to construct the multicast tree satisfying the QoS requirements.     

An efficient heterogeneous key management approach for secure multicast communications in ad hoc networks

In a mobile wireless ad hoc network, mobile nodes cooperate to form a network without using any infrastructure such as access points or base stations. Instead, the mobile nodes forward packets for each other, allowing communication among nodes outside wireless transmission range. As the use of wireless networks increases, security in this domain becomes a very real concern. One fundamental aspect of providing confidentiality and authentication is key distribution. While public-key encryption has provided these properties historically, ad hoc networks are resource constrained and benefit from symmetric key encryption. In this paper, we propose a new key management mechanism to support secure group multicast communications in ad hoc networks. The scheme proposes a dynamic construction of hierarchical clusters based on a novel density function adapted to frequent topology changes. The presented mechanism ensures a fast and efficient key management with respect to the sequential 1 to n multicast service.     

Improving IPTV Forwarding Mechanism in IEEE 802.16j MMR Networks Based on Aggregation

Internet protocol television (IPTV) service depends on the network quality of service (QoS) and bandwidth of the broadband service provider. IEEE 802.16j mobile multihop relay Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access networks have the opportunity to offer high bandwidth capacity by introducing relay stations. However, to actually satisfy QoS requirements for offering IPTV services (HDTV, SDTV, Web TV, and mobile TV) for heterogeneous users' requests, providers must use a video server for each IPTV service type, which increases the network load, especially bandwidth consumption and forwarding time. In this paper, we present a solution for forwarding IPTV video streaming to diverse subscribers via an 802.16j broadband wireless access network. In particular, we propose a new multicast tree construction and aggregation mechanism based on the unique property of prime numbers. Performance evaluation results show that the proposed scheme reduces both bandwidth consumption and forwarding time.     

A Load-Balancing and Push-Out Scheme for Supporting QoS in MANETs

Currently, mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) lack load-balancing capabilities, and thus, they fail to provide good performance especially in the case of a large volume of traffic. Ad hoc networks lack also service differentiation. However, in these wireless environments, where channel conditions are variable and bandwidth is scarce, the differentiated services developed for the Internet are suboptimal without lower layers' support. The IEEE 802.11 standard for Wireless LANs is the most widely used WLAN standard today. It has a mode of operation that can be used to provide service differentiation, but it has been shown to perform badly. In this paper, we present a simple but very effective method for support Quality of Service, by the use of load-balancing and push-out scheme. This approach offers to the mobile node: the ability to alleviate congestion by traffic distribution of excessive load, and to support priority of packets in the single MAC buffer. We evaluate the performance of our algorithm and compare it with the original IEEE 802.11b protocol. Simulation results show that this new approach reduces packet loss rate and increases throughput as well as provides service differentiation in the MAC layer.     

Security and performance enhancement of AODV routing protocol

A mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) is a decentralized, self‐organizing, infrastructure‐less network and adaptive gathering of independent mobile nodes. Because of the unique characteristics of MANET, the major issues to develop a routing protocol in MANET are the security aspect and the network performance. In this paper, we propose a new secure protocol called Trust Ad Hoc On‐demand Distance Vector (AODV) using trust mechanism. Communication packets are only sent to the trusted neighbor nodes. Trust calculation is based on the behaviors and activities information of each node. It is divided in to trust global (TG) and trust local (TL). TG is a trust calculation based on the total of received routing packets and the total of sending routing packets. TL is a comparison between total received packets and total forwarded packets by neighbor node from specific nodes. Nodes conclude the total trust level of its neighbors by accumulating the TL and TG values. The performance of Trust AODV is evaluated under denial of service/distributed denial of service (DOS/DDOS) attack using network simulator NS‐2. It is compared with the Trust Cross Layer Secure (TCLS) protocol. Simulation results show that the Trust AODV has a better performance than TCLS protocol in terms of end‐to‐end delay, packet delivery ratio, and overhead. Next, we improve the performance of Trust AODV using ant algorithm. The proposed protocol is called Trust AODV + Ant. The implementation of ant algorithm in the proposed secure protocol is by adding an ant agent to put the positive pheromone in the node if the node is trusted. Ant agent is represented as a routing packet. The pheromone value is saved in the routing table of the node. We modified the original routing table by adding the pheromone value field. The path communication is selected based on the pheromone concentration and the shortest path. Trust AODV + Ant is compared with simple ant routing algorithm (SARA), AODV, and Trust AODV under DOS/DDOS attacks in terms of performance. Simulation results show that the packet delivery ratio and throughput of the Trust AODV increase after using ant algorithm. However, in terms of end‐to‐end delay, there is no significant improvement. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.