The Case for Non-Cooperative Multihoming of Users to Access Points in IEEE 802.11 WLANs

In many cases, a mobile user has the option of connecting to one of several IEEE 802.11 access points (APs),each using an independent channel. User throughput in each AP is determined by the number of other users as well as the frame size and physical rate being used. We consider the scenario where users could multihome, i.e., split their traffic amongst all the available APs, based on the throughput they obtain and the price charged. Thus, they are involved in a non-cooperative game with each other. We convert the problem into a fluid model and show that under a pricing scheme, which we call the cost price mechanism, the total system throughput is maximized,i.e., the system suffers no loss of efficiency due to selfish dynamics. We also study the case where the Internet Service Provider (ISP) could charge prices greater than that of the cost price mechanism. We show that even in this case multihoming outperforms unihoming, both in terms of throughput as well as profit to the ISP.

On the Cost of Supporting Multihoming and Mobility

As the Internet has evolved and grown, an increasing number of nodes (hosts or autonomous systems) have become multihomed, i.e., a node is connected to more than one network. Mobility can be viewed as a special case of multihoming—as a node moves, it unsubscribes from one network and subscribes to another, which is akin to one interface becoming inactive and another active. The current Internet architecture has been facing significant challenges in effectively dealing with multihoming (and consequently mobility). The Recursive INternet Architecture (RINA) [1] was recently proposed as a clean-slate solution to the current problems of the Internet. In this paper, we perform an average-case cost analysis to compare the multihoming / mobility support of RINA, against that of other approaches such as LISP and MobileIP. We also validate our analysis using trace-driven simulation.

Multihoming su Symbian per VoIP

Sviluppata di un'applicazione che consente di ottimizzare il traffico VoIP SIP sfruttando contemporaneamente tutte le interfacce a disposizione dei dispositivi mobili.

State-of-the-Art Multihoming Protocols and Support for Android

Il traguardo più importante per la connettività wireless del futuro sarà sfruttare appieno le potenzialità offerte da tutte le interfacce di rete dei dispositivi mobili. Per questo motivo con ogni probabilità il multihoming sarà un requisito obbligatorio per quelle applicazioni che puntano a fornire la migliore esperienza utente nel loro utilizzo. Sinteticamente è possibile definire il multihoming come quel processo complesso per cui un end-host o un end-site ha molteplici punti di aggancio alla rete. Nella pratica, tuttavia, il multihoming si è rivelato difficile da implementare e ancor di più da ottimizzare. Ad oggi infatti, il multihoming è lontano dall’essere considerato una feature standard nel network deployment nonostante anni di ricerche e di sviluppo nel settore, poiché il relativo supporto da parte dei protocolli è quasi sempre del tutto inadeguato. Naturalmente anche per Android in quanto piattaforma mobile più usata al mondo, è di fondamentale importanza supportare il multihoming per ampliare lo spettro delle funzionalità offerte ai propri utenti. Dunque alla luce di ciò, in questa tesi espongo lo stato dell’arte del supporto al multihoming in Android mettendo a confronto diversi protocolli di rete e testando la soluzione che sembra essere in assoluto la più promettente: LISP. Esaminato lo stato dell’arte dei protocolli con supporto al multihoming e l’architettura software di LISPmob per Android, l’obiettivo operativo principale di questa ricerca è duplice: a) testare il roaming seamless tra le varie interfacce di rete di un dispositivo Android, il che è appunto uno degli obiettivi del multihoming, attraverso LISPmob; e b) effettuare un ampio numero di test al fine di ottenere attraverso dati sperimentali alcuni importanti parametri relativi alle performance di LISP per capire quanto è realistica la possibilità da parte dell’utente finale di usarlo come efficace soluzione multihoming.

流媒体分发与传输关键技术研究

随着Internet技术的飞速发展，流媒体分发技术取得了长足的进步，同时，日益增加的用户、视频数据和流媒体交互式需求，也给大规模流媒体分发服务带来了新的挑战。另外一方面，随着宽带无线接入技术发展的日新月异，如何有效利用多种接入方式为用户提供更高质量的流媒体服务是当前通信技术领域迫切需要解决的问题。本文对基于应用层支持交互式的P2P流媒体分发技术及基于传输层支持Multihoming的SCTP流媒体传输技术进行了相关研究，主要贡献和创新点如下： 第一、提出了一种支持随机访问的协作式P2P流媒体分发方案。该方案采用平衡二叉树将媒体对象进行分布式分段预取缓存，用于媒体流快速定位，利用缓存重叠机制构建非结构化网络，用于节点间常规媒体流分发。分别设计了媒体预取算法及邻居节点搜索算法，给出了节点失效恢复策略及支持随机访问的协作过程。仿真试验结果表明，在随机访问及网络波动过程中，该方案能够提供高平滑质量的P2P媒体流服务。 第二、提出了一种基于数据驱动及分布式存储的P2P VoD解决方案。该方案融合了平衡多叉树与基于数据驱动的随机图网络两种拓扑。利用gossip算法构建和维护随机图网络中的邻居节点关系，采用数据驱动机制进行邻居节点间媒体流的分发，进一步降低了源服务器的负载。设计了一种基于平衡多叉树的分布式预取缓存算法，提高了随机访问的搜索效率。仿真试验结果和分析表明，两种网络拓扑的协作机制有效地解决了P2P VoD中视频传输及交互式操作问题。 第三、设计和实现了一种基于Trace驱动及SCTP的MPEG-4视频传输评估平台Evalvid-SCTP。Evalvid-SCTP提供了在仿真环境下SCTP流媒体实时传输及视频质量评估的解决方案。在Multihoming环境下，Evalvid-SCTP可以有效地分析SCTP在不同网络条件和负载下的流媒体传输行为特征和传输质量。 第四、提出了SCTP流媒体单路径传输最佳协议参数配置策略及多路径并行传输策略。评估了在单路径传输机制下快速重传策略、超时重传策略、路径故障检测门限值设置，三者配合时在多种网络条件下的流媒体传输性能，并综合以上各种发现提出了在不同的路径条件下应该采取的重传路径选择策略以及路径故障检测门限值设置方案。评估了在多路径并行传输下融合SCTP部分可靠特性的流媒体传输性能，提出了针对流媒体传输，多路径并行传输应采取的策略。

Decentralizing IP mobility management in future networks

The massive adoption of sophisticated mobile devices and applications led to the increase of mobile data in the last decade, which it is expected to continue. This increase of mobile data negatively impacts the network planning and dimension, since core networks are heavy centralized. Mobile operators are investigating atten network architectures that distribute the responsibility of providing connectivity and mobility, in order to improve the network scalability and performance. Moreover, service providers are moving the content servers closer to the user, in order to ensure high availability and performance of content delivery. Besides the e orts to overcome the explosion of mobile data, current mobility management models are heavy centralized to ensure reachability and session continuity to the users connected to the network. Nowadays, deployed architectures have a small number of centralized mobility anchors managing the mobile data and the mobility context of millions of users, which introduces issues related to performance and scalability that require costly network mechanisms. The mobility management needs to be rethought out-of-the box to cope with atten network architectures and distributed content servers closer to the user, which is the purpose of the work developed in this Thesis. The Thesis starts with a characterization of mobility management into well-de ned functional blocks, their interaction and potential grouping. The decentralized mobility management is studied through analytical models and simulations, in which di erent mobility approaches distinctly distribute the mobility management functionalities through the network. The outcome of this study showed that decentralized mobility management brings advantages. Hence, it was proposed a novel distributed and dynamic mobility management approach, which is exhaustively evaluated through analytical models, simulations and testbed experiments. The proposed approach is also integrated with seamless horizontal handover mechanisms, as well as evaluated in vehicular environments. The mobility mechanisms are also speci ed for multihomed scenarios, in order to provide data o oading with IP mobility from cellular to other access networks. In the pursuing of the optimized mobile routing path, a novel network-based strategy for localized mobility is addressed, in which a replication binding system is deployed in the mobility anchors distributed through the access routers and gateways. Finally, we go further in the mobility anchoring subject, presenting a context-aware adaptive IP mobility anchoring model that dynamically assigns the mobility anchors that provide the optimized routing path to a session, based on the user and network context. The integration of dynamic and distributed concepts in the mobility management, such as context-aware adaptive mobility anchoring and dynamic mobility support, allow the optimization of network resources and the improvement of user experience. The overall outcome demonstrates that decentralized mobility management is a promising direction, hence, its ideas should be taken into account by mobile operators in the deployment of future networks.

Dysregulated circulating dendritic cell function in ulcerative colitis is partially restored by probiotic strain Lactobacillus casei Shirota

BACKGROUND: Dendritic cells regulate immune responses to microbial products and play a key role in ulcerative colitis (UC) pathology. We determined the immunomodulatory effects of probiotic strain Lactobacillus casei Shirota (LcS) on human DC from healthy controls and active UC patients. METHODS: Human blood DC from healthy controls (control-DC) and UC patients (UC-DC) were conditioned with heat-killed LcS and used to stimulate allogeneic T cells in a 5-day mixed leucocyte reaction. RESULTS: UC-DC displayed a reduced stimulatory capacity for T cells (P < 0.05) and enhanced expression of skin-homing markers CLA and CCR4 on stimulated T cells (P < 0.05) that were negative for gut-homing marker β7. LcS treatment restored the stimulatory capacity of UC-DC, reflecting that of control-DC. LcS treatment conditioned control-DC to induce CLA on T cells in conjunction with β7, generating a multihoming profile, but had no effects on UC-DC. Finally, LcS treatment enhanced DC ability to induce TGFβ production by T cells in controls but not UC patients. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate a systemic, dysregulated DC function in UC that may account for the propensity of UC patients to develop cutaneous manifestations. LcS has multifunctional immunoregulatory activities depending on the inflammatory state; therapeutic effects reported in UC may be due to promotion of homeostasis.

Greenow: um algoritmo de roteamento orientado a workspace para uma arquitetura de Internet do futuro

Current and future applications pose new requirements that Internet architecture is not able to satisfy, like Mobility, Multicast, Multihoming, Bandwidth Guarantee and so on. The Internet architecture has some limitations which do not allow all future requirements to be covered. New architectures were proposed considering these requirements when a communication is established. ETArch (Entity Title Architecture) is a new Internet architecture, clean slate, able to use application’s requirements on each communication, and flexible to work with several layers. The Routing has an important role on Internet, because it decides the best way to forward primitives through the network. In Future Internet, all requirements depend on the routing. Routing is responsible for deciding the best path and, in the future, a better route can consider Mobility aspects or Energy Consumption, for instance. In the dawn of ETArch, the Routing has not been defined. This work provides intra and inter-domain routing algorithms to be used in the ETArch. It is considered that the route should be defined completely before the data start to traffic, to ensure that the requirements are met. In the Internet, the Routing has two distinct functions: (i) run specific algorithms to define the best route; and (ii) to forward data primitives to the correct link. In traditional Internet architecture, the two Routing functions are performed in all routers everytime that a packet arrives. This work allows that the complete route is defined before the communication starts, like in the telecommunication systems. This work determined the Routing for ETArch and experiments were performed to demonstrate the control plane routing viability. The initial setup before a communication takes longer, then only forwarding of primitives is performed, saving processing time.

Mobility in vehicular networks with multiple access points to the infrastructure

Nowadays there is a huge evolution in the technological world and in the wireless networks. The electronic devices have more capabilities and resources over the years, which makes the users more and more demanding. The necessity of being connected to the global world leads to the arising of wireless access points in the cities to provide internet access to the people in order to keep the constant interaction with the world. Vehicular networks arise to support safety related applications and to improve the traffic flow in the roads; however, nowadays they are also used to provide entertainment to the users present in the vehicles. The best way to increase the utilization of the vehicular networks is to give to the users what they want: a constant connection to the internet. Despite of all the advances in the vehicular networks, there were several issues to be solved. The presence of dedicated infrastructure to vehicular networks is not wide yet, which leads to the need of using the available Wi-Fi hotspots and the cellular networks as access networks. In order to make all the management of the mobility process and to keep the user’s connection and session active, a mobility protocol is needed. Taking into account the huge number of access points present at the range of a vehicle for example in a city, it will be beneficial to take advantage of all available resources in order to improve all the vehicular network, either to the users and to the operators. The concept of multihoming allows to take advantage of all available resources with multiple simultaneous connections. This dissertation has as objectives the integration of a mobility protocol, the Network-Proxy Mobile IPv6 protocol, with a host-multihoming per packet solution in order to increase the performance of the network by using more resources simultaneously, the support of multi-hop communications, either in IPv6 or IPv4, the capability of providing internet access to the users of the network, and the integration of the developed protocol in the vehicular environment, with the WAVE, Wi-Fi and cellular technologies. The performed tests focused on the multihoming features implemented on this dissertation, and on the IPv4 network access for the normal users. The obtained results show that the multihoming addition to the mobility protocol improves the network performance and provides a better resource management. Also, the results show the correct operation of the developed protocol in a vehicular environment.