Communication by wireless technologies has seen a tremendous growth in the last decades. Mobile phone technology and wireless broadband solutions are rapidly replacing the last-hop wireline connectivity for telephones and Internet access.  Research has, however, shown that Internet traffic can experience a performance degradation over wireless compared to wired networks.  The inherent properties of radio communication lead to a higher degree of unreliability, compared to communication by wire or fiber.  This can result in an increased amount of transmission errors, packet loss, delay and delay variations, which in turn affect the performance of the main Internet transport protocols TCP and UDP.  This dissertation examines the cross-layer relationship between wireless transmission and the resulting performance on the transport layer. To this end, experimental evaluations of TCP and UDP over a wireless 4G downlink system proposal are performed.  The experiment results show, in a holistic scenario, that link-level adaptive modulation, channel prediction, fast persistent link retransmissions, and channel scheduling, enables the transport protocols TCP and UDP to perform well and utilize the wireless link efficiently.  Further, a novel approach is proposed where a modified TCP receiver can choose to accept packets that are corrupted by bit errors. Results from network emulation experiments indicate that by accepting and acknowledging even small amounts of corrupted data, a much higher throughput can be maintained compared to standard TCP.

Wireless communication is a rapidly growing field with many of its aspects undergoing constant enhancement. The use of cross-layer design (CLD) in current technologies has improved system performance in terms of Quality-of-Services (QoS) guarantees. While multimedia transmission is difficult to achieve, CLD is capable of incorporating techniques to achieve multimedia transmission without high complexity. Many systems have incorporated some form of adaptive transmission when using a cross-layer design approach. Various challenges must be overcome when transmitting multimedia traffic; the main challenge being that each traffic type, namely voice; image; and data, have their own transmission QoS; delay; Symbol Error Rate (SER); throughput; and jitter requirements. Recently cross-layer design has been proposed to exchange information between different layers to optimize the overall system performance. Current literature has shown that the application layer and physical layer can be used to adequately transmit multimedia over fading channels. Using Reed-Solomon coding at the application layer and Rate Adaption at the physical layer allows each media type to achieve its QoS requirement whilst being able to transmit the different media within a single packet. The following dissertation therefore strives to improve traffic through-put by introducing an unconventional rate adaption scheme and by using power adaption to achieve Symbol Error Rate (SER) QoS in multimedia transmission. Firstly, we introduce a system which modulates two separate sets of information with different modulation schemes. These two information sets are then concatenated and transmitted across the fading channel. The receiver uses a technique called Blind Detection to detect the modulation schemes used and then demodulates the information sets accordingly. The system uses an application layer that encodes each media type such that their QoS, in terms of SER, is achieved. Simulated results show an increase in spectral efficiency and the system achieves the required Symbol Error Rate constraint at lower Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) values. The second approach involves adapting the input power to the system rather than adapting the modulation scheme. The two power adaptive schemes that are discussed are Water- Filling and Channel Inversion. Channel Inversion allows the SER requirement to be maintained for low SNR values, which is not possible with Rate Adaption. Furthermore, the system uses an application layer to encode each media type such that their QoS is achieved. Simulated results using this design show an improvement in through-put and the system achieves the SER constraint at lower SNR values. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Fourth Generation (4G) cellular technology Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) offers high data rate capabilities to mobile users; and, operators are trying to deliver a true mobile broadband experience over LTE networks. Mobile TV and Video on Demand (VoD) are expected to be the main revenue generators in the near future [36] and efficient video streaming over wireless is the key to enabling this. 3GPP recommends the use of H.264 baseline profiles for all video based services in Third Generation (3G) Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) networks. However, LTE networks need to support mobile devices with different display resolution requirements like small resolution mobile phones and high resolution laptops. Scalable Video Coding (SVC) is required to achieve this goal. Feasibility study of SVC for LTE is one of the main agenda of 3GPP Release10. SVC enhances H.264 with a set of new profiles and encoding tools that may be used to produce scalable bit streams. Efficient adaptation methods for SVC video transmission over LTE networks are proposed in this thesis. Advantages of SVC over H.264 are analyzed using real time use cases of mobile video streaming. Further, we study the cross layer adaptation and scheduling schemes for delivering SVC video streams most efficiently to the users in LTE networks in unicast and multicast transmissions. We propose SVC based video streaming scheme for unicast and multicast transmissions in the downlink direction, with dynamic adaptations and a scheduling scheme based on channel quality information from users. Simulation results indicate improved video quality for more number of users in the coverage area and efficient spectrum usage with the proposed methods.

This research investigates cross-layer design in multi-hop wireless networks with random access. Due to the complexity of the problem, we study cross-layer design with a simple slotted ALOHA medium access control (MAC) protocol without considering any network dynamics. Firstly, we study the optimal joint configuration of routing and MAC parameters in slotted ALOHA based wireless networks under a signal to interference plus noise ratio based physical interference model. We formulate a joint routing and MAC (JRM) optimization problem under a saturation assumption to determine the optimal max-min throughput of the flows and the optimal configuration of routing and MAC parameters. The JRM optimization problem is a complex non-convex problem. We solve it by an iterated optimal search (IOS) technique and validate our model via simulation. Via numerical and simulation results, we show that JRM design provides a significant throughput gain over a default configuration in a slotted ALOHA based wireless network. Next, we study the optimal joint configuration of routing, MAC, and network coding in wireless mesh networks using an XOR-like network coding without opportunistic listening. We reformulate the JRM optimization problem to include the simple network coding and obtain a more complex non-convex problem. Similar to the JRM problem, we solve it by the IOS technique and validate our model via simulation. Numerical and simulation results for different networks illustrate that (i) the jointly optimized configuration provides a remarkable throughput gain with respect to a default configuration in a slotted ALOHA system with network coding and (ii) the throughput gain obtained by the simple network coding is significant, especially at low transmission power, i.e., the gain obtained by jointly optimizing routing, MAC, and network coding is significant even when compared to an optimized network without network coding. We then show that, in a mesh network, a significant fraction of the throughput gain for network coding can be obtained by limiting network coding to nodes directly adjacent to the gateway. Next, we propose simple heuristics to configure slotted ALOHA based wireless networks without and with network coding. These heuristics are extensively evaluated via simulation and found to be very efficient. We also formulate problems to jointly configure not only the routing and MAC parameters but also the transmission rate parameters in multi-rate slotted ALOHA systems without and with network coding. We compare the performance of multi-rate and single rate systems via numerical results. We model the energy consumption in terms of slotted ALOHA system parameters. We found out that the energy consumption for various cross-layer systems, i.e., single rate and multi-rate slotted ALOHA systems without and with network coding, are very close.

In order to meet the increasing demand for higher data rates, next generation wireless networks must incorporate additional functionalities to enhance network throughput. Multihop networks are considered as a promising alternative due to their ability to exploit spatial reuse and to extend coverage. Recently, industry has shown increased interest in multihop networks as they do not require additional infrastructure and have relatively low deployment costs. Many advances in physical and network layer techniques have been proposed in the recent past and they have been studied mostly in single-hop networks. Very few studies, if any, have tried to quantify the gains that these techniques could provide in multihop networks. We investigate the impact of simple network coding, advanced physical layer and cooperative techniques on the maximum achievable throughput of wireless multihop networks of practical size. We consider the following advanced physical layer techniques: successive interference cancellation, superposition coding, dirty-paper coding, and some of their combinations. We achieve this by formulating several cross-layer frameworks when these techniques are jointly optimized with routing and scheduling. We also formulate power allocation subproblems for the cases of continuous power control and superposition coding. We also provide numerous engineering insights by solving these problems to optimality.

abstract: Demands in file size and transfer rates for consumer-orientated products have escalated in recent times. This is primarily due to the emergence of high definition video content. Now factor in the consumer desire for convenience, and we find that wireless service is the most desired approach for inter-connectivity. Consumers expect wireless service to emulate wired service with little to virtually no difference in quality of service (QoS). The background section of this document examines the QoS requirements for wireless connectivity of high definition video applications. I then proceed to look at proposed solutions at the physical (PHY) and the media access control (MAC) layers as well as cross-layer schemes. These schemes are subsequently are evaluated in terms of usefulness in a multi-gigabit, 60 GHz wireless multimedia system targeting the average consumer. It is determined that a substantial gap in published literature exists pertinent to this application. Specifically, little or no work has been found that shows how an adaptive PHYMAC cross-layer solution that provides real-time compensation for varying channel conditions might be actually implemented. Further, no work has been found that shows results of such a model. This research proposes, develops and implements in Matlab code an alternate cross-layer solution that will provide acceptable QoS service for multimedia applications. Simulations using actual high definition video sequences are used to test the proposed solution. Results based on the average PSNR metric show that a quasi-adaptive algorithm provides greater than 7 dB of improvement over a non-adaptive approach while a fully-adaptive alogrithm provides over18 dB of improvement. The fully adaptive implementation has been conclusively shown to be superior to non-adaptive techniques and sufficiently superior to even quasi-adaptive algorithms. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Engineering 2011

Cette thèse étudie les optimisations d’allocation de ressources dans le lien retour de systèmes satellites à faisceaux multipleslimités par les interférences et pouvant être vus comme des systèmes MIMO virtuels. Cette thèse se focalise sur lesinterférences générées par les utilisateurs positionnés dans différents faisceaux et transmettant en même temps et avec lamême fréquence. Le nombre de fréquences (couleurs) présent dans le système satellite modifie la bande passante et de cefait la capacité du système. Quand ce nombre est réduit, par ex. une seule couleur, le niveau d’interférences augmente maisla bande passante dans chaque faisceau est plus grande. Il y a donc un compromis entre nombre de couleurs et niveaud’interférences. L’influence du canal satellite est tout d’abord évaluée en analysant le taux d’erreur obtenu avec diversestechniques de suppression d’interférences. La thèse s’oriente ensuite vers la théorie de l’information et étudie l’impact dunombre de couleurs sur les débits totaux. La détection multi-utilisateurs est prise en compte pour dériver les débitsutilisateurs et en particulier le critère max-min est appliqué, montrant une amélioration du niveau d’équité. Les différentsrésultats sont utilisés pour optimiser l’allocation des ressources mais l’ordonnancement pour des systèmes MIMO à grandeéchelle représente une tâche difficile, le domaine de recherche étant de taille prohibitive. De ce fait cette thèse étudie aussides algorithmes heuristiques à complexité réduite, basés sur la théorie des graphes, visant à trouver des ordonnancementssous-optimaux. Enfin le nombre de faisceaux et d’utilisateurs pris en compte pour l’ordonnancement sont étudiés pourproposer de nouveaux algorithmes satisfaisant des contraintes de qualité de service. / This Ph.D. investigates resource management optimisations in the return-link of interference-limited multi-beam satellitesystems which can be seen as virtual MIMO systems. It focuses on the interference that users located in different beamsgenerate towards each other, when transmitting data at the same time and on the same frequency. The number offrequencies (colours) present in the satellite system rules the overall bandwidth and therefore the system capacity. Whenthe number of colours becomes low, e.g. considering one colour, the level of interference increases dramatically but thebandwidth available in each beam gets higher. Hence there is a tradeoff between number of colours and level ofinterference. The influence of the satellite channel is first studied by analysing the BER obtained through interferencecancellation techniques. The Ph.D. then moves towards information theory and investigates the impact of the colours onthe achievable sum rates. MUD schemes are then used to derive the per-user rates, and the max-min criterion is applied tothe user rates showing an improvement of the level of fairness between users. The different outcomes are used to optimisethe resource management. However, scheduling for large scale MIMO systems, as in the return-links of satellitecommunications, represents a challenging task, since the search space is prohibitive large. For this reason this Ph.D. alsoinvestigates low complexity heuristic algorithms based on graph theory with the aim of finding sub-optimal schedules.Finally, the number of spot beams and the number of users considered for scheduling are studied so as to propose newalgorithms aiming to satisfy quality of service constraints.

Le paradigme d'Internet des objets (IdO) envisage d'augmenter l'Internet actuel avec un grand nombre de dispositifs intelligents communicants. Les réseaux de capteurs sans fil (RCsF) déploient les appareils fonctionnant sur les approvisionnements énergétiques maigres et mesurent les phénomènes environnementaux (comme la température, la radioactivité, ou CO2). Les applications populaires de réseaux de capteurs sans fil comprennent la surveillance, la télémétrie et la prévention des catastrophes naturelles. Les majeurs défis de réseaux de capteurs consistent à: comment obtenir l'efficacité énergétique? Comment surmonter les déficiences de support sans fil? et comment les faire fonctionner d'une manière auto-organisée? L'intégration de réseaux de capteurs dans IoD s'appuiera sur un ensemble de standards ouverts qui s'efforcent d'offrir le passage à l'échelle, la fiabilité dans une variété des conditions, et les scénarios d'exploitation. Néanmoins, les standards dans leur état actuel ont des problèmes d'interopérabilité et peuvent bénéficier de nouvelles améliorations. Les contributions de la thèse sont les suivantes: • Nous avons mené une analyse expérimentale et identifié les caractéristiques d'un environnement de réseau de capteurs. Notre analyse a porté sur la modélisation des liens et la dynamique du réseau, ainsi que la corrélation des liens avec les paramètres environnementaux. L'étude analytique nous a permis d'identifier les principales faiblesses de l'environnement du RCsF et a permis aussi d'obtenir une meilleure compréhension de la dynamique de lien radio et le voisinage des nœuds. • Nous avons confrontés la question de l'interopérabilité des deux principaux standards - IEEE 802.15.4 dans la couche de contrôle d'accès au medium, et RPL dans la couche de transport. Nous proposons d'adapter la structure originale de cluster tree et de construire un framework élégant, qui permettra le fonctionnement conjoint de l'IEEE 802.15.4 et RPL sans l'apparition des collisions. En outre, nous évaluons à travers de nombreuses simulations les deux algorithmes distribués d'attribution de slots. Ces algorithmes permettront d'atteindre un fonctionnement presque sans collisions. • Nous proposons une solution inter-couche distribuée dans le but de construire une topologie afin que IEEE 802.15.4 et RPL puissent fonctionner ensemble. Notre algorithme auto-organisé obtient une structure topologique obéissante aux recommandations globales, cela, par la seule utilisation des métriques mesurées localement. De nombreuses simulations démontrent les avantages de la structure résultante en termes de convergence de temps, de stabilité, et d'efficacité énergétique dans le long terme. Les simulations démontrent aussi un impact positif sur les performances de routage. • Nous proposons un ensemble de nouveaux mécanismes qui permettront d'améliorer les performances de RPL et d'utiliser la Qualité de Service pour gérer les problèmes de trafic sensible. Notre extension de routage opportuniste et multi-chemin contribue à améliorer la livraison des paquets avant une date limite, tout en minimisant le surcout et la consommation d'énergie par rapport à la version de base de RPL. / Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm envisages expanding the current Internet with a huge number of the intelligent communicating devices. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) deploys the devices running on the meager energy supplies, and measuring environmental phenomena (like temperature, radioactivity, or CO2). WSN popular applications include monitoring, telemetry, and natural disaster prevention. Major WSN challenges are how to allow energy efficiency, overcome impairments of wireless medium, and operate in the self-organized manner. The WSN integrating IoT will rely on a set of the open standards striving to offer scalability, reliability in a variety of the operating scenarios and conditions. Nevertheless, the current state of the standards has interoperability issues and can benefit from further improvements. The contributions of the thesis work are: • We conducted an experimental analysis and characterization of a WSN environment. Our analysis included the link characterization, correlation with environmental parameters as well as network dynamics. Analytical study allowed us to identify key weaknesses of the WSN environment as well a get a better understanding of the dynamics—both link and node neighborhood related. • We confront the interoperability issue of the leading IEEE 802.15.4 standard on the Medium Access Control layer and RPL standard on the transport layer. We propose to accommodate the original cluster-tree structure and to build an elegant framework for collision free multi-hop operation of the IEEE 802.15.4 that will allow RPL to run on top of it. Furthermore, we evaluate through extensive simulations two distributed schemes that achieve near collision free self-organization of the nodes. • We propose a distributed cross-layer convergecast topology construction within the joint IEEE 802.15.4 and RPL framework. Self-organization scheme obtains a topological structure obeying the global recommendations by the sole use of locally measured metrics. Extensive simulations demonstrate the advantages of the resulting structure in terms of convergence time, stability, and energy efficiency in long term and a positive impact on the routing performances. • We propose a set of new mechanisms that will improve RPL performances and enable Quality of Service operation that will handle delay sensitive traffic. Our multi-path opportunistic routing extension helps to improve packet delivery before a deadline, while minimizing overhead and energy consumption compared to the basic version of RPL.STAR

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T15:54:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo6558_1.pdf: 2208362 bytes, checksum: df38021ad60463f7243ab395515d3d77 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Em redes de sensores sem fio, a maioria dos protocolos de comunicação propostos explora a natureza colaborativa dos nós sensores e, geralmente, visa a utilização eficiente dos recursos, principalmente em relação ao consumo de energia e processamento. Comum a todas essas soluções é o fato de que essas redes também são projetadas sobre a tradicional arquitetura de protocolos em camada, ou seja, a maioria desses protocolos de comunicação é individualmente desenvolvida para as diferentes camadas de rede. Enquanto estes protocolos podem alcançar um bom desempenho em termos das métricas relativas a cada uma dessas camadas, estes não são otimizados de maneira integrada para maximizar o desempenho da rede como um todo, enquanto minimizam a quantidade de energia consumida. Considerando os recursos escassos das redes de sensores, o projeto integrado das camadas de rede, isto é, o projeto crosslayer, se apresenta como uma alternativa promissora para a ineficiência das tradicionais arquiteturas de protocolos em camadas. Neste contexto, este trabalho discute as arquiteturas cross-layer existentes e propõe uma nova arquitetura de rede, denominada Arquitetura de Rede Orientada a Aspecto (AONA - Aspect-Oriented Network Architecture). Ao invés da comunicação entre as camadas ser estritamente entre protocolos adjacentes, a AONA permite a comunicação direta entre protocolos (comunicação cross-layer) através da introdução de um novo mecanismo de abstração, o aspecto. Esse mecanismo permite à arquitetura de rede proposta o compartilhamento de informações e, ao mesmo tempo, garante a modularização de interesses que estão dispersos nas diferentes camadas como energia, segurança, tolerância a falhas ou outros requisitos de QoS (Quality of Service). Para demonstrar a viabilidade do uso dos conceitos propostos na arquitetura AONA, um projeto integrado entre as camadas de controle de acesso ao meio (MAC) e de roteamento é construído sob uma pilha de protocolos especificamente desenvolvida para redes de sensores. Os resultados obtidos mostram que a solução proposta melhora o desempenho e o tempo de vida das redes de sensores quando comparada com a abordagem tradicional (sem otimização cross-layer). Além de comprovar que a melhoria na eficiência das redes de sensores sem fio pode ser obtida através do projeto de uma arquitetura cross-layer, este trabalho propõe que a AONA sirva como projeto genérico para as futuras arquiteturas de redes de computadores, visto que fornece um melhor modelo de projeto e implementação para arquiteturas de rede em termos de extensibilidade, adaptabilidade, reusabilidade e reconfigurabilidade

Resource allocation consists in allocating spectrum and power on every link of a network, possibly under power and rate requirements. In the context of cognitive radios, almost 15 years of research produced an impressive amount of theoretical contributions, exploring a wide range of possibilities. However, despite the ever-growing list of imaginable scenarios, we observe in Chapter 2 that most of these studies are based on similar working hypotheses. Our first contribution is to challenge some of these hypotheses, and propose a novel resource allocation scheme. Sticking to realistic assumptions, we show how our scheme reduces both computational complexity and control traffic, compared to other state-of-the-art techniques.<p><p>Due to a majority of the abovementioned studies making some constraining assumptions, realistic system designs and experimental demonstrations are much more quiet and unharvested fields. In an effort to help this transition from theory to practice, our second contribution is a four-nodes cognitive network demonstrator, presented in Chapter 3. In particular, we aim at providing a modular platform available for further open collaboration: different options for spectrum sensing, resource allocation, synchronisation and others can be experimented on this demonstrator. As an example, we develop a simple protocol to show that our proposed resource allocation scheme is fully implementable, and that primary users can be avoided using our approach.<p><p>Chapter 4 aims at removing another working hypothesis made when developping our resource allocation scheme. Indeed, resource alloca- tion is traditionally a Media Access Control (MAC) layer problem. This means that when solving a resource allocation problem in a network, the routing paths are usually assumed to be known. Conversely, the routing problem, which is a network layer issue, usually assumes that the available capacities on each link of the network (which depend on resource allocation) are known. Nevertheless, these two problems are mathematically entangled, and a cross-layer allocation strategy can best decoupled approaches in several ways, as we discuss in Chapter 4. Accordingly, our third and last contribution is to develop such a cross-layer allocation scheme for the scenario proposed in previous chapters.<p><p>All conclusions are summarised in Chapter 5, which also points to a few tracks for future research. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished