With recent technological advances in wireless communication networks, the need for an efficient architecture for IP mobility is becoming more apparent. Enabling IP mobility architecture is a significant issue for making use of various portable devices appearing on the Internet. Mobile IP, the current standard for IP based mobility management, is capable of providing wireless Internet access to mobile users. The most important feature of Mobile IP is its ability to support the changing point of attachment of the mobile user by an algorithm known as handover. A handover algorithm is needed to maintain connectivity to the Internet whenever the mobile users move from one subnet to another, while simultaneously providing minimum disruption to ongoing sessions. This thesis gives an overview of Mobile IP, its open issues, some of the subsequent enhancements and extensions related to the handover management problem of the mobile user. Description and evaluation of various handover algorithms for Mobile IP which have been proposed to reduce packet loss and delay during handover constitute the core of the thesis. In this thesis, a comparative performance evaluation of the proposed protocols and the combination of them is also presented through simulations.

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has recently released routing standards that allow deployment of TCP/IP local area networks (LANs) onboard a moving vehicle and yet maintain permanent connectivity of the onboard LAN to the Internet via a vehicular mobile router. This recent development opens up new opportunities for providing efficient mobile computing for users on the move, especially for commuters traveling on public transports. Supporting real-time communications, e.g. IP Telephony, on-line video on demand, etc., over such onboard mobile networks is the main motivation of this thesis. Due to the volatility of the wireless bandwidth available to connect the moving LAN to the Internet at different locations of the trip, supporting on-line services that require bandwidth guarantees becomes a challenging task. The main problem investigated is how to provide bandwidth guarantee efficiently, effectively, and in a scalable manner in the context of moving onboard networks. To achieve the goal, a systematic approach is taken that involves (i) designing a signalling protocol that allows transparent bandwidth reservation for the aggregate demand of all onboard users in the vehicle, and (ii) proposing effective aggregation and bandwidth reservation policies that aim to maximize the chances of successful reservation and minimize the bandwidth and processing overhead in critical network elements. Mathematical models are derived to evaluate the performance of proposed solutions. These models are validated using discrete event simulation. One important conclusion reached is that onboard mobile communication provides significant aggregation and centralized management opportunities that must be exploited to provide a scalable solution to the bandwidth guarantee problem in mobile communications. The techniques proposed and analyzed in this thesis to exploit such aggregation opportunities constitute the original contribution to knowledge.

Quality of service differentiation has never achieved much attention and relevance until the advent of the convergence of mobile wireless network and the fixed Internet, that is, Internet Protocol ( IP ) based mobile wireless networks, or wireless Internet. These networks are poised to support multimedia applications ' traffic with diverse QoS sensitivities. To date, most traffic transferred over the Internet still undergo best - effort forwarding, which does not guarantee whether or not traffic sent by a source gets to the intended destination, let alone loss and timing bounds. The major contribution of this thesis is three - fold. First, the thesis proposes a QoS - enabled wireless Internet access architecture, which leverages the micromobility in wireless standards to reduce mobile IP weaknesses, such as long handoff delay, to achieve effective interworking between mobile wireless networks and the global, fixed Internet. Although the idea here is applicable to any wireless standard, the design examples in this thesis are based on the IEEE 802.11b wireless local area network ( WLAN ) standard. Second, it proposes a framework for a class of wireless channel state dependent packet scheduling schemes, which consider the QoS requirements of the applications ' traffic ; the wireless channel state ( reflected in instantaneous data rate or noise level ) ; and optimises the usage of the expensive wireless resource. The operation of the QoS - enabled, channel state - dependent packet scheduler is analysed using optimisation theory, eigenanalysis and stochastic modelling. Third, the thesis analyses the effects of wireless channel properties on differentiated QoS ( DQoS ) schemes, using two - dimensional, channel - state - dependent queuing theory, matrix analytic methods to stochastic modelling and eigenanalysis. The ana - lytical model of DQoS schemes, especially models accounting for user scenarios such as speed of motion and wireless channel properties, such as fading, spatio - temporarily varying quality and low rate, is not properly covered in the open literature, and hence was a motivation for this part of the thesis. The wireless channel is discretized into discrete - time Markovian states based on the received signal - to - noise plus interference ratio ( SNIR ), which also reflects on the instantaneous link quality. The link quality, in turn, influences the QoS experienced by the transported applications sitting on top of the ISO / OSI protocol hierarchy. The parameters of the Markovian states are evaluated using realistic physical channel noise models and transceiver characteristics, such as modem. [ Different modems ( modulator / demodulator ) yields different transceiver properties such as sensitivity. The analysis in the thesis adopts QPSKand BPSK modulation. ] Source traffic models are used in the analysis. Lastly, the thesis provides an extensive introduction to, and provides a detailed background material for the new area of mobile wireless Internet systems, upon which considerable future research can be based. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 2003.

Thesis (M.E.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). "December 2006." Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-86). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Orientador: Luís Geraldo Pedroso Meloni / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T06:16:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sousa_ErickRocha_M.pdf: 1628043 bytes, checksum: fd0550f6821da3cd30f2a9cde35923a4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Esta dissertação apresenta uma análise de métodos de sincronização temporal e de portadora em sistemas WiMAX/OFDM. São analisados trabalhos clássicos publicados nos anos 90 até resultados obtidos recentemente. Uma ênfase especial é dada aos métodos de sincronização aplícáveis ao WiMAX. Grande parte dos trabalhos mais recentes na área de sincronização não podem ser utilizados no WiMAX pois não são aplicáveis aos preâmbulos e pilotos definidos para esta tecnologia. São estudados tanto os algoritmos que funcionam no domínio do tempo (pré-FFT) quanto aqueles que trabalham no domínio da frequência (pós-FFT), bem como a integração entre esses algoritmos em um receptor WiMAX completo. É também apresentada uma proposta de extensão ao algoritmo de Morelli. Essa proposta é comparada com outros métodos (Schmidl e Tufvesson) sob diversos tipos e condições de canal. A extensão ao algoritmo de Morelli tem características de detecção próximas da detecção ótima por filtro casado de Tufvesson, quando a SNR é moderada (acima de 5-8dB) / Abstract: This dissertation presents an analysis of time and carrier frequency synchronization algorithms for OFDM/WiMAX systems. The most relevant works from the last 20 years are presented, emphasizing the ones applicable to WiMAX. A great number of recent studies in the field are not applicable in WiMAX systems, since the preamble/pilot patterns used in these studies are not defined in the 802.16 standard. In this work, the integration between pre-FFT and post-FFT synchronization methods is also discussed. An extension to Morelli's algorithm is also proposed and compared with Schmidl and Tufvesson algorithms, under several channel types and conditions. The proposed extension has detection properties that are similar to the optimum matched-filter detection (Tufvesson), when analised under fair SNR conditions (above 5-8dB) / Mestrado / Telecomunicações e Telemática / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Orientador: Eleri Cardozo / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T06:51:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Badan_TomasAntonioCosta_D.pdf: 1510212 bytes, checksum: 73618c2b1cfc1df892bb1bd071694ef9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: A próxima geração da telefonia celular, 4G, será totalmente baseada no protocolo IP. Para o usuário final, a expectativa é estar constantemente conectado à esta rede, no qual a característica fundamental será a mobilidade transparente do dispositivo móvel, entre as várias subredes que compõem um domínio administrativo. Esta tese tem por objetivo propor uma solução para o problema da mobilidade transparente do dispositivo móvel em redes IP. Como consequência, duas contribuições são alcançadas. A primeira é a especificação de uma arquitetura que permita localizar e rastrear o dispositivo móvel em um domínio administrativo, que seja independente da tecnologia de túneis utilizada na camada de rede. A segunda é a proposição de um método de rastreamento do dispositivo móvel em redes MPLS, preservando as especificações do protocolo MPLS. É mostrado também como este método foi integrado com a arquitetura previamente definida. Por fim, é descrita como essa proposta de rastreamento em redes MPLS foi implementada sobre o sistema operacional Linux e os testes realizados para avaliar, tanto a implementação desta proposta, quanto a sua integração com essa arquitetura / Abstract: The next generation of cellular telephony, 4G, is going to be totally based on the IP protocol. The end user expects to be constantly connected to this network, in which the key feature Will be the seamless mobility of the mobile device among the various subnets within an administrative domain. This thesis has as objective to propose a solution to the problem of seamless mobility of the mobile device in IP networks. As such, two contributions are achieved. The first one is the specification of an architecture able to locate and track the mobile device inside an administrative domain, being independent of the tunnel technology used in the network layer. The second one is the proposition of a method to track the mobile device inside a MPLS networks, keeping intact the specifications of the MPLS protocol. It is also shown how this method was integrated with the previously defined architecture. Finally, it is described how the proposed method to track mobile devices inside a MPLS network was implemented on the Linux operating system, and the tests performed in order to assess both the implementation of this proposal and its integration with this architecture / Doutorado / Engenharia de Computação / Doutor em Engenharia Elétrica

Smartphones are proliferating into the workplace at an ever-increasing rate, similarly the threats that they pose is increasing. In an era of constant connectivity and availability, information is freed up of constraints of time and place. This research project delves into the risks introduced by smartphones, and through multiple cases studies, a maturity measurement model is formulated. The model is based on recommendations from two leading information security frameworks, the COBIT 4.1 framework and ISO27002 code of practice. Ultimately, a combination of smartphone specific risks are integrated with key control recommendations, in providing a set of key measurable security maturity components. The subjective opinions of case study respondents are considered a key component in achieving a solution. The solution addresses the concerns of not only policy makers, but also the employees subjected to the security policies. Nurturing security awareness into organisational culture through reinforcement and employee acceptance is highlighted in this research project. Software consultancies can use this model to mitigate risks, while harnessing the potential strategic advantages of mobile computing through smartphone devices. In addition, this research project identifies the critical components of a smartphone security solution. As a result, a model is provided for software consultancies due to the intense reliance on information within these types of organisations. The model can be effectively applied to any information intensive organisation.

The emergence of new Internet applications and technologies have resulted in an increased complexity as well as a need for lower latency, higher bandwidth, and increased reliability. This ultimately results in an increased complexity of network operation and management. Manual management is not sufficient to meet these new requirements. There is a need for data driven techniques to advance from manual management to autonomous management of network systems. One such technique, Machine Learning (ML), can use data to create models from hidden patterns in the data and make autonomous modifications. This approach has shown significant improvements in other domains (e.g., image recognition and natural language processing). The use of ML, along with advances in programmable control of Software- Defined Networks (SDNs), will alleviate manual network intervention and ultimately aid in autonomous network operations. However, realizing a data driven system that can not only understand what is happening in the network but also operate autonomously requires advances in the networking domain, as well as in ML algorithms. In this thesis, we focus on developing ML-based network architectures and data driven net- working algorithms whose objective is to improve the performance and management of future networks and network applications. We focus on problems spanning across the network protocol stack from the application layer to the physical layer. We design algorithms and architectures that are motivated by measurements and observations in real world or experimental testbeds. In Part I we focus on the challenge of monitoring and estimating user video quality of experience (QoE) of encrypted video traffic for network operators. We develop a system for REal-time QUality of experience metric detection for Encrypted Traffic, Requet. Requet uses a detection algorithm to identify video and audio chunks from the IP headers of encrypted traffic. Features extracted from the chunk statistics are used as input to a random forest ML model to predict QoE metrics. We evaluate Requet on a YouTube dataset we collected, consisting of diverse video assets delivered over various WiFi and LTE network conditions. We then extend Requet, and present a study on YouTube TV live streaming traffic behavior over WiFi and cellular networks covering a 9-month period. We observed pipelined chunk requests, a reduced buffer capacity, and a more stable chunk duration across various video resolutions compared to prior studies of on-demand streaming services. We develop a YouTube TV analysis tool using chunks statistics detected from the extracted data as input to a ML model to infer user QoE metrics. In Part II we consider allocating end-to-end resources in cellular networks. Future cellular networks will utilize SDN and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) to offer increased flexibility for network infrastructure operators to utilize network resources. Combining these technologies with real-time network load prediction will enable efficient use of network resources. Specifically, we leverage a type of recurrent neural network, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural networks, for (i) service specific traffic load prediction for network slicing, and (ii) Baseband Unit (BBU) pool traffic load prediction in a 5G cloud Radio Access Network (RAN). We show that leveraging a system with better accuracy to predict service requirements results in a reduction of operation costs. We focus on addressing the optical physical layer in Part III. Greater network flexibility through SDN and the growth of high bandwidth services are motivating faster service provisioning and capacity management in the optical layer. These functionalities require increased capacity along with rapid reconfiguration of network resources. Recent advances in optical hardware can enable a dramatic reduction in wavelength provisioning times in optical circuit switched networks. To support such operations, it is imperative to reconfigure the network without causing a drop in service quality to existing users. Therefore, we present a ML system that uses feedforward neural networks to predict the dynamic response of an optically circuit-switched 90-channel multi-hop Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) network. We show that the trained deep neural network can recommend wavelength assignments for wavelength switching with minimal power excursions. We extend the performance of the ML system by implementing and testing a Hybrid Machine Learning (HML) model, which combines an analytical model with a neural network machine learning model to achieve higher prediction accuracy. In Part IV, we use a data-driven approach to address the challenge of wireless content delivery in crowded areas. We present the Adaptive Multicast Services (AMuSe) system, whose objective is to enable scalable and adaptive WiFi multicast. Specifically, we develop an algorithm for dynamic selection of a subset of the multicast receivers as feedback nodes. Further, we describe the Multicast Dynamic Rate Adaptation (MuDRA) algorithm that utilizes AMuSe’s feedback to optimally tune the physical layer multicast rate. Our experimental evaluation of MuDRA on the ORBIT testbed shows that MuDRA outperforms other schemes and supports high throughput multicast flows to hundreds of nodes while meeting quality requirements. We leverage the lessons learned from AMuSe for WiFi and use order statistics to address the performance issues with LTE evolved Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (eMBMS). We present the Dynamic Monitoring (DyMo) system which provides low-overhead and real-time feedback about eMBMS performance to be used for network optimization. We focus on the Quality of Service (QoS) Evaluation module and develop a Two-step estimation algorithm which can efficiently identify the SNR Threshold as a one time estimation. DyMo significantly outperforms alternative schemes based on the Order-Statistics estimation method which relies on random or periodic sampling.

A Masters Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Commerce in the faculty of Commerce, Law and Management August, 2016 / Online activity through the Internet and mobile phones has dramatically increased over the last five years in South Africa (Nyirenda-Jere & Tesfaye , 2015). Lower costs for Internet and mobile phones are the main reasons for more and more people being connected (Price Waterhouse Cooper South Africa, 2012). But discrepancies exist, namely between the people who are connected and those who are not. This discrepancy is referred to as the digital divide and contributing factors towards it include income, education, age and other factors which were discussed in this paper (Nievhaves, Gorbacheva & Plattfaut, 2012). Free Wi-Fi is one of the solutions to bridge the digital divide to a certain extent and it is also a very valuable tool to marketers and business owners. This research study was aimed at understanding the impact of free Wi-Fi on consumers’ purchase intentions and likelihood to return in townships in South Africa. People in townships are an important group to analyse, because of the millions of inhabitants. Infrastructure in terms of the Internet is not as good as the infrastructure standards in suburbs or in the city. The purpose of the study was to find out the impact of free Wi-Fi on the likelihood of customers to return and their likelihood to purchase something at a location where free Wi-Fi is offered. For the purpose of this research a quantitative approach was used to investigate the impact of free Wi-Fi and factors leading to return and intention to conduct purchases. Non-probability sampling was used in the form of convenience sampling. A self-administered questionnaire was developed to investigate behaviour. Four hundred questionnaires were distributed to people living in Soweto. The analysis indicated that the four access variables, namely - material, mental, usage and skills access - have an influence on the intention to use free Wi-Fi which, in turn, has an influence on the likelihood to return or purchase something. Implications for marketers and businesses is: the marketers have to consider the digital divide when marketing to consumers in South Africa and that offering free Wi-Fi at a commercial place has positive implications for both customers and businesses. / MT2017

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) have radically changed business, industry, and society, shaping the way we transport, navigate, and generally live every day. After all these years, however, GNSS location information remains only valuable outdoors, leaving indoor environments where people dwell most of the time without proper localization support. Many technologies and systems have approached this problem including optical, inertial, ultrasonic, and radio-frequency (RF), to name a few; yet the problem remains. In this thesis, inspired by the indisputable success of GNSS and the re-emergence of ultra-wideband (UWB) radios to the forefront of technology, we aim to change the state of affairs in RF localization by proposing novel clean-slate UWB ranging and localization schemes based on concurrent transmissions. These are generally considered harmful for communication but become a rich source of localization information when combined with knowledge of the channel impulse response (CIR). Our first novel contribution lies in the concept of concurrent ranging, which allows mobile nodes to simultaneously measure the distance to multiple devices—hereafter, called responders—removing the need for the wasteful long packet exchanges traditionally used for ranging and localization. Different from conventional schemes, which spread responder transmissions over time, we force responders to transmit concurrently and let their signals “fuse” in the wireless channel; the resulting impulse response, as measured by commercial UWB radios, contains all the necessary timing information to extract the desired distance to all responders. This first contribution, however, also serves us to realize the many challenges ahead to unlock the real power of concurrent transmissions for localization. We address these challenges along the way, starting with Chorus, our second contribution. Chorus exploits an anchor infrastructure that transmits packets concurrently. Mobile nodes listen for these transmissions and measure from the CIR the time difference of arrival (TDoA) of the concurrent signals, privately computing their own position at a high rate using hyperbolic localization. This reverse TDoA scheme, although simple in concept, is extremely powerful in that it enables passive self-localization of infinitely many targets at once, a feature largely missing in the RF literature. In Chorus, we address the difficult challenges to reliably detect and identify the signal from the different responders. Yet, the limited transmission precision of commercial UWB transceivers constrains the many benefits of Chorus. In this context, we i) contribute a model to ascertain the impact of the transmission uncertainty on concurrent transmissions, and ii) address the issue with a compensation mechanism that fine-tunes the local oscillator frequency of responders while they prepare to transmit, allowing us to simultaneously tackle the impact of clock drift on distance estimation. We demonstrate in our evaluation that with this compensation mechanism we can schedule transmissions with < 1 ns error, removing the need to share timestamps to precisely measure distance. We rebuild concurrent ranging around this mechanism, obtaining decimeter-level ranging and localization at a fraction of the cost of conventional schemes. These results turn concurrent ranging into an immediately applicable technique that new systems can now exploit, benefiting from a different set of trade-offs hitherto unavailable. Further, the TX compensation mechanism can be directly applied to Chorus, similarly making fast and accurate passive self-localization a tangible reality. We continue our endeavor with a systematic characterization of the conditions under which UWB concurrent transmissions succeed to provide reliable ranging and communication across different complex channels. The results we put forth empower developers to fully exploit concurrent transmissions in their designs, potentially inspiring a new wave of ranging, and also communication, primitives that can bring to UWB the same striking benefits found in low-power narrowband radios. The thesis is completed by looking at other challenges preventing the wide adoption of UWB localization systems, namely, large-scale operation, energy efficiency, and the complexity to install anchor deployments. We tackle these aspects in the last part of the thesis with three additional contributions. First, we propose Talla, a TDoA system that provides seamless large-scale localization for many tags across cells of time-synchronized anchors. Secondly, we fuse UWB ranging with odometry information and build an uncertainty model that only triggers new UWB estimates if and when needed, reducing consumption and channel utilization while satisfying the application-specific demands in terms of accuracy. And thirdly, we build state-of-the-art mechanisms to automatically compute the positions of all anchors deployed across large areas based on ranging information, facilitating anchor network deployment for the many UWB-based real-time location systems (RTLS) to come. Overall, this thesis changes the landscape of UWB localization with a new set of potentially disruptive schemes and systems that exploit the peculiar benefits of concurrent transmissions and that consequently redefine the trade-offs of the technology.