This thesis presents an intelligent early packet discard (I-EPD) for real-time video streaming over a multi-hop ad hoc network. In a multi-hop ad hoc network, the quality of transferring real-time video streams could be seriously degraded, since every intermediate node (IN) functionally like forwarding device does not possess large buffer and sufficient bandwidth. Even worse, a selected forwarding node could leave or power off unexpectedly which breaks the route to destination. Thus, a video packet temporarily buffered in intermediate nodes may exceed its time constraint when either a congested or failed link occurs; a stale video packet is useless even if it can reach destination after network traffic becomes smooth or failed route is reconfigured. In the proposed I-EPD, an IN can intelligently determine whether a buffered video packet should be discarded based on an estimated time constraint which is calculated from the RTP timestamps and the round trip time (RTT) measured by RTCP. For the purpose of validation, we implement the I-EPD scheme on a Linux-based embedded system. We compare the quality of video streams under different bit rates and different route repair time. In addition, we use PSNR to validate the quality of pictures from the aspect of application layer. The experimental results demonstrate that with I-EPD buffer utilization on IN can be more effectively used and unnecessary bandwidth wastage can be avoided.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / The Computer Aided Prototyping System (CAPS) and the Prototype System Description Language (PSDL) represent a pioneering effort in the field of software development. The implementation of CAPS will enable software engineers to automatically validate design specifications and functional requirements early in the design of a software system through the development and execution of a prototype of the system under construction. Execution of the prototype is controlled by an Execution Support System (ESS) within the framework of CAPS. One of the critical elements of the ESS is the Static Scheduler which extracts critical timing constraints and precedence information about operators from the PSDL source that describes the prototype. The Static Scheduler then uses this information to determine whether a feasible schedule can be built, and if it can, constructs the schedule for operator execution within the prototype. / http://archive.org/details/staticschedulerf00marl / Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy