With the increase in demand for video streaming services on the hand held mobile terminals with limited battery life, it is important to maintain the user Quality of Experience (QoE) while taking the resource consumption into consideration. Hence, the goal is to offer as good quality as feasible, avoiding as much user-annoyance as possible. Hence, it is essential to deliver the video, avoiding any uncontrollable quality distortions. This can be possible when an optimal (or desirable) throughput value is chosen such that exceeding the particular threshold results in entering a region of unstable QoE, which is not feasible. Hence, the concept of QoE-aware sustainable throughput is introduced as the maximal value of the desirable throughput that avoids disturbances in the Quality of Experience (QoE) due to delivery issues, or keeps them at an acceptable minimum. The thesis aims at measuring the sustainable throughput values when video streams of different resolutions are streamed from the server to a mobile client over wireless links, in the presence of network disturbances packet loss and delay. The video streams are collected at the client side for quality assessment and the maximal throughput at which the QoE problems can still be kept at a desired level is determined. Scatter plots were generated for the individual opinion scores and their corresponding throughput values for the disturbance case and regression analysis is performed to find the best fit for the observed data. Logarithmic, exponential, linear and power regressions were considered in this thesis. The R-squared values are calculated for each regression model and the model with R-squared value closest to 1 is determined to be the best fit. Power regression model and logarithmic model have the R-squared values closest to 1.  Better quality ratings have been observed for the low resolution videos in the presence of packet loss and delay for the considered test cases. It can be observed that the QoE disturbances can be kept at a desirable level for the low resolution videos and from the test cases considered for the investigation, 360px video is more resilient in case of high delay and packet loss values and has better opinion score values. Hence, it can be observed that the throughput is sustainable at this threshold.

The newly defined NB-IoT standard currently lacks a toolkit and simulator. In order to develop algorithms for this new standard there is a need for channels and signals as reference during tests. MATLAB is commonly used for testing LTE signals and therefore the toolkit was developed in this environment. The toolkit focuses primarily on the Layer 1-relevant functionality of NB-IoT, the grid generation, encoding, rate-matching and modulation of channels. The simulator focuses on testing the developed toolkit in a virtual LTE NB-IoT environment. The virtual environment attempts to emulate a base station and a terminal. The path followed is scheduling, channel processing, grid generation, QPSK and OFDM modulation through a modeled channel, OFDM demodulation, channel estimation, equalisation, QPSK demodulation and reversal of channel processing. The simulator tests primarily the NPDSCH channel implementations. Measurements of bit error and block error rates were made and it was concluded that they follow the expected trends. More testing is required to validate the remaining channels. A sector equaliser and an interpolating equaliser were tested by measuring block error rate and checking constellation diagrams and it was concluded that the performance of the interpolation equaliser is more consistent. In order to improve the equalisation further the noise estimation must be reworked.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / The next step in the evolution of services provided on an intranet or the internet will be distributed or distance learning with collaboration among peers. Currently, this is done on a one-to-one basis. To expand to a one-tomany collaboration environment, there needs to be a server distributing the multimedia content without creating additional network traffic even though many users are accessing or viewing the multimedia content. Multicasting allows many users to view multimedia content without creating additional network traffic. There is a server providing multimedia content to a multicast address so users may access it. This thesis defines metrics and conducts a comparison of different servers capable of distributing multimedia content using the multicasting protocol. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

Dans un contexte de convergence vers IP du monde des télécommunications, les systèmes de communication par satellite se doivent de suivre la tendance pour rester compétitifs et s'intégrer efficacement au monde Internet. Après avoir rappelé les enjeux d'une convergence dans les systèmes satellite et dressé un panorama des architectures de convergence envisageables, nous avons identifié les limites des systèmes actuels en termes de convergence vers IP. Notre choix se porte alors sur l'architecture IP/GSE pour la voie aller. Nous spécifions ensuite le protocole d'encapsulation GSE-Alt, inspiré de GSE mais adapté à la voie retour. Le déploiement de nouveaux services et l'évolution de services existants sont assurés et rendus plus aisés grâce à la couche IP. Les couches GSE et GSE-Alt optimisent le transport d'IP. Pour offrir un support de communication répondant à la diversité des exigences de qualité des services applicatif, nous définissons ensuite plusieurs mécanismes autorisant la mise en cohérence du traitement de la qualité de service (QoS) aux différents niveaux protocolaires dans les systèmes de communication par satellite. Enfin, pour permettre une interconnexion et une intégration du monde satellite au monde Internet, nous étudions les besoins en termes de déploiement du routage IP. Nous définissons alors une architecture permettant au satellite de réaliser de la commutation de niveau IP. Cette convergence vers un système « tout IP » du segment de communication par satellite est le fondement nécessaire à son insertion transparente au reste du monde des télécommunications. / The world of telecommunications converging towards IP, the telecommunication satellite systems have to follow the trend to stay competitive and to be integrated to the Internet world. We first remind the issues of convergence in satellite communications, then we list the different convergence architectures conceivable in satellite systems and describe the limits of current systems in term of IP convergence. Our choice is devoted to the IP/GSE architecture for the forward link. Then, we specify the GSE-Alt protocol, inspired from GSE but adapted to the return link. The deployment of new services and the evolution of existing services are possible and made easier thanks to the IP layer. Both layers GSE and GSE-Alt optimize the transport of the IP packets. In order to propose a communication support allowing various quality of service (QoS) needs, we specify several mechanisms allowing a great coherence of the quality of service treatments at the different protocol levels. Finally, to allow an interconnection and an integration of the satellite world to the Internet world, we study the requirements in term of IP routing deployment. Therefore, we specify an architecture allowing the satellite to make the switching at the IP level. This convergence of the satellite towards an "all IP" system is the base required to its transparent insertion to the rest of the telecommunication world.

Context: In the present world, there is an increase in the usage of com- munication services. The growth in the usage and services relying on the communication network has brought in the increase in energy consumption for all the resources involved like computers and other networking compo- nent. Energy consumption has become an other efficient metric, so there is a need of efficient networking services in various fields which can be obtained by using the efficient networking components like computers. For that pur- pose we have to know about the energy usage behavior of that component. Similarly as there is a growth in use of large data-centers there is a huge requirement of computation resources. So for an efficient use of these re- sources we need the measurement of each component of the system and its contribution towards the total power consumption of the system. This can be achieved by power profiling of different heterogeneous computers for es- timating and optimizing the usage of the resources. Objectives: In this study, we investigate the power profiles of different heterogeneous computers, under each system component level by using a predefined workload. The total power consumption of each system compo- nent is measured and evaluated using the open energy monitor(OEM). Methods: In oder to perform the power profile an experimental test bed is implemented. Experiments with different workload on each component are conducted on all the computers. The power for all the system under test is measured by using the OEM which is connected to each system under test(SUT). Results: From the results obtained, the Power profiles of different SUT’s are tabulated and analyzed. The power profiles are done in component level under different workload scenarios for four different heterogeneous comput- ers. From the results and analysis it can be stated that there is a variation in power consumed by each component of a computer based on its con- figuration. From the results we evaluate the property of super positioning principle.

Thesis advisor: Timothy Duket / What is the relationship between inequality and the prevalence of mobile phones in a society? It is obvious that being poor is a barrier to owning a mobile phone, but what about simply being poorer than those around you? Stories abound about the benefits mobile phones bring to the poor in developing countries. For example, in Bangladesh's Narshingdi district, mobile phones have made it possible for families who once struggled to survive, to earn more than enough to eat well and live comfortably. These isolated villagers who grow crops or raise livestock can use their village cell phone to speak directly to wholesalers and are able to get better prices for their goods in the marketplace (Ahmed, 2000). In Cote d'Ivoire coffee growers share mobile phones to follow hourly changes in coffee prices in order to sell at the most profitable time (Lopez, 2000). But how likely will these poor people be to access a mobile phone if they are significantly poorer than the “rich” in their countries. In place where there is such a disparity, does unequal income distribution make it less likely that someone will own a cell phone, or does something about the condition make adopting this technology even more widespread? As it turns out, the results of this study indicate that the higher the level of inequality in a country, the more likely someone living there is to own a cell phone. While this result seems counterintuitive, I will discuss in detail a few ways to explain it after giving some background on the subject. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2003. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

O modelo de competição introduzido no Brasil pós-privatização exigiu a criação da Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (ANATEL) para promover o desenvolvimento das telecomunicações, por meio de infra-estrutura capaz de oferecer à sociedade serviços adequados, diversificados e a preços justos. À ANATEL foram outorgados poderes para a implementação da política de telecomunicações: regulador, com objetivo de editar planos e regulamentos; fiscalizador, com objetivo de coibir práticas abusivas contrárias à legislação e mediador, com objetivo de compor negociações entre os agentes. A dissertação analisou a influência da ANATEL nas negociações na telefonia fixa, tendo como base a elaboração do acordo de interconexão entre a EMBRATEL e a Telefônica, pois, nesse cenário de mudanças, as negociações e conflitos são freqüentes, principalmente quando a questão é a interconexão de redes, pois os interesses econômicos das prestadoras de serviços são divergentes e o Estado cria uma obrigatoriedade de interconexão, tornando complexo o acordo. A ANATEL exigiu que as empresas realizassem a interconexão independente de um contrato, pois para o órgão regulador o interesse público é superior. Assim, o acordo e as questões divergentes estão na ANATEL para decisão por um processo de arbitragem. A celeridade esperada da ANATEL na gestão de conflitos não foi observada na prática, pois o acordo de interconexão está há quase um ano esperando solução. Verifica-se a importância da presença do órgão regulador, pois em razão da complexidade técnica, ele possui ferramentas que obrigam a prestação do serviço, mesmo sem o respaldo contratual. / The competition model introduced in post-privatization Brazil has demanded the creation of ANATEL, which stands for National Telecommunication Agency- (‘Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações’). Such institution is meant to promote the development of telecommunications through infrastructure capable of supplying society with adequate and diversified, fair-priced services. ANATEL has been granted powers for the implementation of the telecommunication policy: regulation powers, aiming at editing plans and regulations; inspection powers, whose objective is to hinder counter-legislation abuse practices; and mediation powers, which aim at composing negotiations among agents. This dissertation has analyzed ANATEL’s influence on the negotiations of ‘settled/fixed’ telephone services, based on the elaboration of the agreement of interconnection between EMBRATEL and Telefônica. In the present scenery of changes, negotiations and conflicts are rather frequent, mainly when the point in question is the interconnection of networks, as not only do telephone companies have divergent economic interests, but the State also makes interconnections mandatory, thus making the agreement rather complex. ANATEL demanded that the companies should consummate the interconnection regardless of a contract, as public interest is the official regulating agency’s first and foremost concern. Therefore, ANATEL is holding the agreement and the divergent issues, waiting for an arbitration process. The celerity expected from ANATEL in conflict management has actually not been noticed, as the agreement of interconnection has remained unsolved for nearly a year. The importance of the presence of the official regulating agency is quite clear, as in the face of technical complexity, such institution possesses the tools which compel the supply of the services, even without the support of a contract.

Thesis advisor: Julie Holland Mortimer / Television ads have become as much a part of watching TV as the programs themselves. They are such a ubiquitous component of network and cable television that they have developed their own sub-culture; popular commercials get brought up in conversation, and many commercial actors become famous for portraying their respective characters. For how prevalent television advertising is and always has been, though, it’s amazing how little is known about advertiser demand. While many academics have conducted studies on the effects of advertising, little research has been steered towards understanding why advertisers choose to advertise when they do, especially within the context of advertising on TV. My research revolves around answering this question, as I attempt to establish patterns that can predict when firms will choose to advertise. By looking at data on past advertising trends, I try to find a sense of consistency across firms and across industries and then use that information to analyze and explain any observed changes in behavior during highly rated telecasts. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Economics.

The appearance of Voice over IP (VoIP) revolutionized the telecommunications word, this technology delivers voice communications over the internet protocol (IP) networks instead of the public switched telephone network (PSTN), calls can be made between two VoIP phones as well as between a VoIP phone and an analog phone connected to a VoIP adapter [1]. The use of this technology gives access to more communication options compared to the conventional telephony but the users face different problems, mostly connectivity and performance issues related to different factors such as latency and jitter [2], these factors affect directly the call quality and can result in choppy voice, echoes, or even in a call failure. The main objective of this work was to create a tool for automatic analysis and evaluation from packet traces, identify connectivity and performance issues, reconstruct the audio streams and estimate the call quality. The results of this work showed that the objectives sated above are met, where a tool that automatically analyzes VoIP calls is created, this tool takes non encrypted pcap files as input and returns a list of calls with different parameters related to connectivity and performance such as delay and jitter, it does as well reconstruct the audio of every VoIP stream and plots the waveform and spectrum of the reconstructed audio for evaluation purposes.

Serviços de telecomunicações são importantes não apenas pela sua característica de setor de infra-estrutura mas também pelo seus potenciais efeitos de spill over. A universalização dos serviços de telecomunicações tem sido uma parte importante da intervenção regulatória. As justificativas podem ser econômicas: externalidades de rede, ou não econômicas: cidadania e coesão social. Das várias possibilidades alternativas de políticas, apresenta-se a implementação dos preços de Ramsey, através de markup, como um meio de minimizar as perdas de eficiência econômica na consecução ao deste objetivo, a partir de diferentes cenários de estruturas de mercado e valores de parâmetros. / Telecommunications services are relevant, not only due to its infra-structure service characteristic, but also for their spill over potential effects. Telecommunication suniversal service has been a relevant piece of the regulatory process. Economic reasons might be network externalities; whilst non-economic, citizenship and social cohesion. Among the alternative policy possibilities, it is suggested the implementa-tion of Ramsey pricing, through markup, as a mean to minimize the loss of economic efficiency in reaching this purpose, from different market structures scenarios and parameters values.