Estágio realizado no INESC-Porto e orientado pelo Eng.º Filipe Lameiro Abrantes / Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2008

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores - Major Telecomunicações. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2008

Estágio realizado no INESC-Porto e orientado pelo Eng.º Filipe Lameiro Abrantes / Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2008

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This thesis examines the current implementations for the distribution of real-time GNSS data over IP networks such as the public Internet, focusing on two essential components of the system, data format and transport protocol. The provision of a suitable data format will allow users to take full advantage of the real-time GNSS data distribution system. Types of GNSS supported, message sizes, data rates, data precision levels, hardware and software support and possible future developments are investigated. An analysis is carried out on commonly known GNSS data formats, highlighting the most suitable standard for each evaluation criterion. A similar investigation is carried out on the transport protocols. An analysis is conducted on various design aspects of NTRIP and RT-IGS protocols, covering factors such as data latency, integrity, firewalls and proxy server compatibility and scalability. The analysis also covers the design aspects of the new draft Version 2 of NTRIP. The latter parts of this thesis report on the experiment results aimed at providing assessment of the current level of implementation of NTRIP. Data latency and integrity using NTRIP over the Internet are examined. Their impacts on users applications as the quality of real-time kinematic positioning is assessed. The results show that the performance of the system satisfies the rigorous requirement of the end-user application. The draft version of the new NTRIP indicates that UDP will be also supported. A similar investigation is carried out, providing the first experiment results on the new option. Tests using similar metrics, data latency and integrity, were carried out to verify the inherent differences between TCP and UDP. It was ascertained that, in most cases, UDP does offer improvement in terms of reduced latency over TCP. However this improvement is not significant enough to affect the performance of users applications tested. Compatibility tests were also carried out and the test results show that the new option experiences some compatibility issues with firewalls and wireless networks.

Due to terminal mobility and change of service area, efficient IP mobility support is an important aspect in UMTS networks in order to provide mobile users negligible packet loss rate and low handover latency, and thus some level of guaranteed quality-ofservice (QoS) to support real-time applications. 3G/UMTS has been specified and implemented as an end-to-end mobile communications system. The underlying WCDMA access systems manage radio access handover (layer 1) and provide linklayer mobility (layer 2) in terms of connection setup and resource management. For the UMTS nodes to have seamless connectivity with the Internet, the UMTS core networks need to be able to support continuous and no network service session handover (layer 3 and above). A long IP handover latency results in high packet loss rate and severely degrades its end-to-end transport level performance. Network-layer handover latency has therefore been regarded as one of the fundamental limitations in IP-based UMTS networks. Therefore, it is crucial to provide efficient network-layer mobility management in UMTS/WCDMA networks for seamless end-to-end TCP connection with the global Internet. Mobility of UMTS nodes necessitates extra functionalities such as user location tracking, address registration and handover related mechanisms. The challenge to provide seamless mobility in UMTS requires localised location management and efficient IP handover management. Mobile IPv6 protocol offers a better mobility support as the extended IPv6 features with mobility mechanism are integrated to the mobile nodes. To mitigate the effect of lengthy IP handover latency, two well-known handover reducing mechanisms based on Mobile IPv6 support have been proposed in the literature. They are designed with hierarchical network management and address pre-configuration mechanism. Hierarchical management aims to reduce the network registration time, and fast-handover attempts to minimise the address resolution delay. S-MIP (Seamless Mobile IP) integrates the key benefits of the above IP mobility mechanisms coupled with local retransmission scheme to achieve packet lossless and extremely low handover latency, operating in WLAN environments. In this thesis, we explore the possible Mobile IP solutions and various IP handover optimisation schemes in IPv6 to provide seamless mobility in UMTS with the global Internet. It aims at developing an optimised handover scheme that encompasses the packet lossless and extremely low handover latency scheme in S-MIP, and applying it into the UMTS/WCDMA packet data domain. Therefore, the hybrid UMTS-SMIP architecture is able to meet the requirements of delay sensitive real-time applications requiring strict delay bound, packet lossless and low handover latency performance for end-to-end TCP connection during a UMTS IP-based handover. The overall seamless handover architecture in UMTS facilitates integrated, scalable and flexible global IP handover solution enabling new services, assuring service quality and meeting the user???s expectations in future all-IP UMTS deployment. The viability of the seamless mobility scheme in UMTS is reflected through and validated in our design model, network protocol implementation, and service architecture. We illustrate the performance gained in QoS parameters, as a result of converged UMTS-SMIP framework compared to other Mobile IPv6 variants. The simulation results show such a viable and promising seamless handover scheme in UMTS on IP handover latency reduction on its end-to-end TCP connection.

This thesis aims to critically evaluate global intellectual property instruments with detailed analysis of the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Aspects of Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement) provisions in order to investigate the enforcement issues, confronted by the Developing Countries due to fragile legal infrastructure. These intellectual property laws are evolutionary and designed to protect and honour human intellectual creations since BC 400 which recognized them distinct from divine inspirations. Italian Renaissance witnessed the systematic recognition of human skill, craft, innovation and invention. Venetian Government institutionalized it by awarding patents and copyrights to skilled workers and publishers. Its primary purpose was to protect the trade and secondary was to foster intellectual creativity through reward and recognition. These rewards and recognitions, known as Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), developed with each new invention and creation. Industrial Revolution accelerated it and developed nations entered into international conventions to protect their nationals and their interests across the borders. In 1995, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement) accommodated all the previous (IPRs) instruments and its enforcement linked with global trade. It was a dilemma for developing nations who were desirous to participate in global trading system for their economic development but could not administer (IPRs) regimes on their land due to fragile and static infrastructure. All assistance from developed countries during the transitional period could not address the problems due to alien prescriptions, applied to counter problems in the developed World. Developing Nations need innovative, flexible and indigenous approach to administer the TRIPS Agreement. A case study of Pakistan judicial environment to address the TRIPS enforcement issue has been conducted. The methodological approach of this thesis is the interpretive paradigm of the qualitative research tradition. This interpretive paradigm or framework is applied through the two methodologies of hermeneutics and case study.

Due to terminal mobility and change of service area, efficient IP mobility support is an important aspect in UMTS networks in order to provide mobile users negligible packet loss rate and low handover latency, and thus some level of guaranteed quality-ofservice (QoS) to support real-time applications. 3G/UMTS has been specified and implemented as an end-to-end mobile communications system. The underlying WCDMA access systems manage radio access handover (layer 1) and provide linklayer mobility (layer 2) in terms of connection setup and resource management. For the UMTS nodes to have seamless connectivity with the Internet, the UMTS core networks need to be able to support continuous and no network service session handover (layer 3 and above). A long IP handover latency results in high packet loss rate and severely degrades its end-to-end transport level performance. Network-layer handover latency has therefore been regarded as one of the fundamental limitations in IP-based UMTS networks. Therefore, it is crucial to provide efficient network-layer mobility management in UMTS/WCDMA networks for seamless end-to-end TCP connection with the global Internet. Mobility of UMTS nodes necessitates extra functionalities such as user location tracking, address registration and handover related mechanisms. The challenge to provide seamless mobility in UMTS requires localised location management and efficient IP handover management. Mobile IPv6 protocol offers a better mobility support as the extended IPv6 features with mobility mechanism are integrated to the mobile nodes. To mitigate the effect of lengthy IP handover latency, two well-known handover reducing mechanisms based on Mobile IPv6 support have been proposed in the literature. They are designed with hierarchical network management and address pre-configuration mechanism. Hierarchical management aims to reduce the network registration time, and fast-handover attempts to minimise the address resolution delay. S-MIP (Seamless Mobile IP) integrates the key benefits of the above IP mobility mechanisms coupled with local retransmission scheme to achieve packet lossless and extremely low handover latency, operating in WLAN environments. In this thesis, we explore the possible Mobile IP solutions and various IP handover optimisation schemes in IPv6 to provide seamless mobility in UMTS with the global Internet. It aims at developing an optimised handover scheme that encompasses the packet lossless and extremely low handover latency scheme in S-MIP, and applying it into the UMTS/WCDMA packet data domain. Therefore, the hybrid UMTS-SMIP architecture is able to meet the requirements of delay sensitive real-time applications requiring strict delay bound, packet lossless and low handover latency performance for end-to-end TCP connection during a UMTS IP-based handover. The overall seamless handover architecture in UMTS facilitates integrated, scalable and flexible global IP handover solution enabling new services, assuring service quality and meeting the user???s expectations in future all-IP UMTS deployment. The viability of the seamless mobility scheme in UMTS is reflected through and validated in our design model, network protocol implementation, and service architecture. We illustrate the performance gained in QoS parameters, as a result of converged UMTS-SMIP framework compared to other Mobile IPv6 variants. The simulation results show such a viable and promising seamless handover scheme in UMTS on IP handover latency reduction on its end-to-end TCP connection.

Les réseaux de communication devenant de plus en plus présents dans nos activités quotidiennes, l'interruption des services fournis par le réseau, ou même une dégradation significative de leurs qualit és, deviennent de moins en moins tolérables. Une conception robuste des réseaux de communication, anticipant les pannes éventuelles d'équipements ou les variations sur la demande en trafic, devient donc de plus en plus nécessaire. Cette thèse traite de plusieurs problèmes de conception et de planification robustes apparaissant dans le domaine des télécommunications. Nous étudions tout d'abord le problème de la conception et du dimensionnement d'une topologie de communication résilience. Nous proposons un nouveau modèle de conception de réseaux intégrant les coûts et les contraintes des différents équipements (liens, routeurs, cartes). Ce modèle prend également en compte de nombreuses contraintes opérationnelles telles que la présence de noeud potentiel et de capacités modulaires, mais aussi des contraintes sur les délais de communication. Un algorithme exact et deux approximations sont proposés pour résoudre ce problème. Les résultats numériques montrent que des économies substantielles peuvent être effectuées en intégrant les coûts d'équipements dans la phase amont du processus de conception. Avec la croissance exponentielle de l'Internet et l'incroyable développement des applications réseaux, les variations sur les volumes de trafic sont devenus un des problèmes majeurs auxquels sont confrontés les opérateurs. Aujourd'hui, concevoir un réseau sur la base d'une unique matrice de trafic "en heure de pointe" est de moins en moins crédible du fait de la forte volatilité des trafics. Il devient ainsi nécessaire d'intégrer explicitement l'incertitude sur la demande en trafic dans les problèmes d'optimisation du routage. Nous étudions deux problèmes d'optimisation robuste du routage : (1) le problème de conception des VPN dans le cadre du modèle hose d'incertitude sur la de mande et (2) le problème d'optimisation des métriques de routage IGP avec incertitude sur la demande. Nous formulons des modèles mathématiques de chacun de ces problèmes et proposons des heuristiques efficaces basées sur des techniques de recherche locale pour les résoudre. L'efficacité pratique des techniques et méthodes développées dans le cadre de cette thèse est démontrée et validée par une batterie de tests sur des données réalistes. Ce travail a d'autre part donné lieu `a plusieurs développements logiciels dans le logiciel de planification de réseaux NEST de QoS Design.

<p>This report documents the work done by the author to design and implement a 3D graphics system on an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). After a preamble with a background presentation to the project, a very brief introduction in computer graphics techniques and computer graphics theory is given. Then, the hardware available to the project, along with an analysis of general requirements is examined. The following chapter contains the proposed graphics system design for FPGA implementation. A broad approach to separate the design and the eventual implementation was used. Two 3D pipelines are suggested - one fully capable high-end version and one which use minimal resources. The documentation of the effort to implement the minimal graphics system previously discussed then follows. The documentation outlines the work done without going too deep into detail, and is followed by the largest of the tests conducted. Finally, chapter seven concludes the project with the most important project conclusions and some suggestions for future work.</p>