The multimedia applications have recently generated much interest in wireless network infrastructure with supporting the quality-of-service (QoS) communications. In this paper, we propose a lantern-tree-based QoS on-demand multicast protocol for wireless ad hoc networks. Our proposed scheme offers a bandwidth routing protocol for QoS support in a multihop mobile network, where the MAC sub-layer adopts the CDMA-over-TDMA channel model. The QoS on-demand multicast protocol determines the end-to-end bandwidth calculation and bandwidth allocation from a source to a group of destinations. In this paper, we identify a lantern-tree for developing the QoS multicast protocol to satisfy certain bandwidth requirement, while the lantern-tree is served as the multicast-tree. Our lantern-tree-based scheme offers a higher success rate to construct the QoS multicast tree due to using the lantern-tree. The lantern-tree is a tree whose sub-path is constituted by the lantern-path, where the lantern-path is a kind of multi-path structure. This obviously improves the success rate by means of multi-path routing. In particular, our proposed scheme can be easily applied to most existing on-demand multicast protocols. Performance analysis results demonstrate the achievements of our proposed protocol.

The matrix inequality condition has been considered as the main condition for the stability of RHC. But it is difficult to apply the matrix inequality condition for guaranteeing the stability of any physical system because of the high gain problem brought about the high value of the final state weighting matrix. Therefore, in this study, a new stability condition for RHC is proposed and it extends the range of the final state weighting matrix guaranteeing the stability of RHC in comparison with the case of the matrix inequality condition. The proposed stability condition is based not only on a final state weighting matrix but also on a horizon size and guarantees the stability for other forms of model predictive control just like the matrix inequality condition.

Vector quantization (VQ) features a very heavy encoding process. In previous work, an efficient encoding algorithm using mean pyramid has been developed. To improve it further, a fast search algorithm is proposed in this letter. Specifically speaking, four major modifications are made. First, to rearrange the original codebook directly along the sorted real sums to reduce the search scope and then update the lower and upper bound dynamically. Second, to use sum instead of the mean that includes roundoff error to thoroughly avoid a possible mismatched winner. Third, to construct a sum pyramid using 2-pixel-merging other than 4-pixel-merging way to generate more in-between levels. Fourth, to introduce the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality to bridge Euclidean and Manhattan distance together so that the difference check between 2 vectors can be pre-conducted only by much lighter Manhattan distance computation. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is more search-efficient.

A mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is characterized by multi-hop wireless links in the absence of any cellular infrastructure as well as by frequent host mobility. This paper proposes a SMPQ: Spiral-Multi-Path QoS routing protocol in a MANET, while the MAC sub-layer adopts the CDMA-over-TDMA channel model. This work investigates the bandwidth reservation problem of on-demand QoS routing in a wireless mobile ad-hoc network. The proposed approach increases the ability of a route to identify a robust path, namely a spiral-multi-path, from source host to destination host, in a MANET to satisfy certain bandwidth requirements. Two important contributions of the proposed spiral-multi-path are: (1) the spiral-multi-path strengthens route-robustness and route-stability properties and (2) the spiral-multi-path increases the success rate of finding the QoS route. Performance analysis results demonstrate that our SMPQ protocol outperforms other protocols.

Recently, wireless networks have become a major sector in the telecommunication industry. More and more applications seek to become wireless. However, a major obstacle in adapting wired applications to wireless is the quality of service problem. Although the wireless bandwidth is improving at a fast pace, it still is not enough for modern multimedia applications. Even if we solve the bandwidth problem, the mobility of users also poses challenges for QoS provision. If the user moves randomly, how and where can resources be reserved in advance for roaming users to move smoothly and seamlessly? In this paper, we propose a method for predictive resource reservation in wireless networks. Resources reserved but not used will seriously affect the system performance. Therefore, we also have mechanisms to release the reserved resources when it is not used within a time limit and allow resources to be used temporarily by another mobile user. We compare the performance of our method with those of fixed allocation scheme and shadow cluster scheme. The results indicate its effectiveness and feasibility.

Among the many scheduling algorithms which can guarantee delay bounds of sessions, the EDF scheduler with regulators has received wide attention since it can admit a very high number of sessions. However, due to regulators, EDF with regulators has difficulty in scalable implementation. To implement a regulator, a buffer and a timer are needed to restrict the incoming traffics. Given N number of sessions, N regulators are required. Moreover, due to regulators, the entire scheduling algorithm is not work-conserving. To enforce work-conserveness, it is known in the literature that additional buffers and a complex mechanism are required to bypass regulators. Thus, scalable implementation becomes much more difficult in the case of the work-conserving EDF with regulators. In this paper, however, we show that the buffers and timers used to implement regulators are unnecessary to guarantee delay bounds of admitted sessions in fixed-sized packet networks. Then, we can remove those unnecessary buffers and timers. By the removal, the resulting scheduling algorithm can be implemented in a scalable way and becomes work-conserving for free.

In this paper, we propose a new predictive location management strategy that reduces the update cost while restricting the paging load optimized for mobiles roaming with traceable patterns. Enhanced with directional predictive capabilities offered by Kalman filtering, new update boundaries are assigned to better reflect the movement patterns of individual mobiles upon location registration. Thus, while complying with the required delay constraints, QoS measures such as throughput will not need to be sacrificed as a result of increasing update threshold. The contribution of this paper is two-fold: (1) to propose a distribution model that is capable of describing a wide range of movement patterns with varying correlation between traveling directions and (2) to show the capabilities (in terms of reliable performances) of the Kalman filter in predicting future movement patterns. Simulation results have successfully demonstrated the ability of the Kalman filter in assigning update boundaries capable of reflecting a mobile's roaming characteristics. The performance gains achieved mainly through a significant reduction in the number of updates indicate its potential for promoting better bandwidth conservation.

This paper presents the performance modeling application of SIP-T (Session Initiation Protocol for Telephones) signaling system based on two-class priority queueing process in carrier class VoIP (Voice over IP) network. The SIP-T signaling system defined in IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) is a mechanism that uses SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) to facilitate the interconnection of existing PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) with carrier class VoIP network. One of the greatest challenges in the migration from PSTN toward NGN (Next Generation Networks) is to build a carrier class VoIP network that preserves the ubiquity, quality, and reliability of PSTN services while allowing the greatest flexibility for use of new VoIP technology. Based on IETF, the SIP-T signaling system not only promises scalability, flexibility, and interoperability with PSTN but also provides call control function of MGC (Media Gateway Controller) to set up, tear down, and manage VoIP calls in carrier class VoIP network. This paper presents the two class priority queueing model, performance analysis, and simulation of SIP-T signaling system in carrier class VoIP network focused on toll by-pass or tandem by-pass of PSTN. In this paper, we analyze the average queueing length, the mean of queueing delay, and the variance of queueing delay of SIP-T signaling system that are the major performance evaluation parameters for improving QoS (Quality of Service) and system performance of MGC in carrier class VoIP network. A mathematical model of the M/G/1 queue with two-class non-preemptive priority assignment is proposed to represent SIP-T signaling system. Then, the formulae of average queueing length, queueing delay, and delay variation for the non-preemptive priority queue are expressed respectively. Several significant numerical examples of average queueing length, queueing delay, and delay variation are presented as well. Finally, the two-class priority queueing model and performance analysis of SIP-T signaling system are shown the accuracy and robustness after the comparison between theoretical estimates and simulation results.

Recently routing protocols for QoS aware multicast are actively studied, but there are few studies focusing on the scalability of link state advertisement when the available bandwidth of a link is updated along with the QoS aware multicast tree construction. This paper proposes a new QoS aware multicast routing protocol that is scalable in terms of the link state advertisement exchange. Our protocol has the following features; (1) A multicast network is divided into domains, and the advertisement of information on links within a domain is limited within the domain. (2) Among the border multicast routers, only the link state information of inter-domain links is advertised. As a result, the number of link state advertisement messages will be drastically reduced. (3) When a multicast tree spreads over multiple domains, the tree construction needs to be performed without information on links in other domains, and it is possible that the construction may fail. In order to cope with this problem, the crank back mechanism of a tree construction is introduced. This paper describes the detailed procedures and the message formats of our protocol. It also describes the evaluation of the number of exchanged link state advertisement messages and shows that our protocol can reduce the number comparing with the conventional protocols.

This paper presents measurement and analysis of various networks and applications using a high-speed IP meter. The authors have developed a high-speed IP meter with a GPS timestamp component, which enables precise measurement of packet delay and jitter in various networks. Measurement of the following networks was performed, 1) Measurement of traffic in a commercial IPv6 access service on ADSL, as a typical broadband access service network. 2) Measurement of traffic in the 54th IETF meeting in Yokohama, as a typical high-speed Internet backbone network. This paper reports the characteristics identified in these networks, e.g. asymmetricities of one-way packet delay over an ADSL access network and the difference in TCP/UDP packet delay over a high-speed backbone network. It also presents the analysis results of some multimedia applications in the Internet, and discusses the quality of service on Internet access service networks.

This paper presents a distinct approach to the robustness stability analysis and design of linear uncertain systems. Based on the extension version of the projection method, the specific stability issue, which ensures the poles within a specific region, can be efficiently analyzed. Furthermore, we derive a simple design scheme for a class of uncertain systems. By the proposed numerical algorithm, some examples are given to demonstrate the validity and effectiveness.

This paper proposes the conditional LZ complexity and analyzes its property. Especially, we show an inequality corresponding to Ziv's inequality concerning a distinct parsing of a pair of sequences. Further, as a byproduct of the result, we show a simple proof of the asymptotical optimality of Ziv's universal source coding algorithm with side information.

Assurance improvement is the most challenging task both in railway and space areas, even though their required technologies are different. It can be said that the railways have been achieving the extremely high assurance level through their long history and experience, while the space area has not accumulated enough experience in addition to their requirement of highly advanced technology. As a result, the latter places more emphasis on theoretical analyses for ensuring the assurance. This paper introduces the two different approaches of railway and space areas toward assurance, and compares the two methods.

This paper assesses the media synchronization quality of recovery control schemes from asynchrony, which are referred to as reactive control schemes here, in terms of objective and subjective measures. We deal with four reactive control techniques: skipping, discarding, shortening and extension of output duration, and virtual-time contraction and expansion. We have carried out subjective and objective assessment of the media synchronization quality of nine schemes which consist of combinations of the four techniques. The paper makes a comparison of media synchronization quality among the schemes. It also clarifies the relations between the two kinds of quality measures.

In this paper, a preprocessing approach to improving the quality of the music on a mobile phone using Enhanced variable rate codec (EVRC) is presented. Our approach works well on music signals considerably reducing the number of time-clipped frames.

The general public is expected to demand in not too distant future instituting more stringent certification procedures for computing parts of traditional and new-generation safety-critical application systems. Such quality-of-service (QoS) certification processes will not and can not rely solely on the testing approach. Design-time guaranteeing of timely service capabilities of various subsystems is an inevitable part of such processes. Although some promising developments in this area have been occurring in recent years, the technological challenges yet to be overcome are enormous. This paper is a summary of the author's perspective on the remaining challenges and promising directions for tackling them.

Analog Hopfield neural networks (HNNs) have so far been used to solve many kinds of optimization problems, in particular, combinatorial problems such as the TSP, which can be described by an objective function and some equality constraints. When we solve a minimization problem with equality constraints by using HNNs, however, the constraints are satisfied only approximately. In this paper we propose a circuit which rigorously realizes the equality constraints and whose energy function corresponds to the prescribed objective function. We use the SPICE program to solve circuit equations corresponding to the above circuits. The proposed method is applied to several kinds of optimization problems and the results are very satisfactory.

The emerging multimedia applications for future mobile communication systems typically require highly diversified Quality of Service (QoS). However, due to the time and location dependent fluctuating nature of radio resources in the radio link, it is very difficult to maintain a constant level of QoS with the current end-to-end QoS control only. Therefore, wireless-aware QoS is the key issue for achieving better end-end QoS. In this paper, a new wireless QoS scheme for a joint CDMA/NC-PRMA cellular system are proposed considering QoS prioritization mechanism, users' diversified requirements and the harmonization with IP-QoS. Two wireless QoS-aware resource allocation algorithms are proposed to support QoS prioritization while achieving high radio resource utilization. By introducing a set of new QoS resource request parameters (minimum, average and maximum requirements), the algorithms can assign radio resource in a more flexible way than the conventional fixed resource allocation. Computer simulations indicate that the proposed QoS algorithms exhibit superior performance with respect to packet dropping probability for realtime application users, and improve transmission rate for non-realtime application users, which evince the effectiveness of the proposed wireless QoS algorithms.

The proxy mechanism widely used in WWW systems offers low-delay data delivery by means of "proxy server." By applying proxy mechanisms to video streaming system, we expect that high-quality and low-delay video distribution can be accomplished without introducing extra load on the system. In addition, it is effective to adapt the quality of cached video data appropriately in the proxy if user requests are diverse due to heterogeneity in terms of the available bandwidth, end-system performance, and user's preferences on the perceived video quality. In this paper, we propose proxy caching mechanisms to accomplish high-quality and low-delay video streaming services. In our proposed system, a video stream is divided into blocks for efficient use of cache buffer. A proxy cache server is assumed to be able to adjust the quality of cached or retrieved video blocks to requests through video filters. We evaluate our proposed mechanisms in terms of the required buffer size, the play-out delay and the video quality through simulation experiments. Furthermore, to verify the practicality of our mechanisms, we implement our proposed mechanisms on a real system and conducted experiments. Through evaluations from several performance aspects, it is shown that our proposed mechanisms can provide users with a low-latency and high-quality video streaming service in a heterogeneous environment.

End-to-end delay and loss measurement is an efficient way for a host to examine the network performance. Unnoticed clock errors that influence the accuracy of the timestamp may result in fatal system errors. In this paper, we discuss the characteristics and defects of the existing clock distortion adjustment algorithms. Those algorithms are not applicable to process a long-term delay trace, which contains periodical NTP clock adjustment. Therefore, we propose a relatively robust algorithm to resolve the problem. The algorithm employs window function to partition the long-term trace into short segments, improves the precision of the estimation of the time and amount of NTP clock adjustment To evaluate the performance of our proposed algorithm, we practice it in adjusting the clock distortion of the real delay traces collected from Internet. The results indicate that our proposed algorithm has excellent effect on the removal of the clock distortion from the long-term delay traces.