8595308
Experiences with MPEG-4 multimedia streaming
With the advent of next-generation multimedia technologies such as very-low bit rate MPEG-4 codec, multimedia streaming of high-quality video and audio has become a near-term reality. The high compression ratio and error resilience offered by the MPEG-4 standard promise near-term popularity for rich contents and exceptional quality to consumers over affordable Internet connections, such as xDSL, cable modem and 3G wireless networks. Audio and video streaming applications are at the center of such scenarios; and Quality-of-Service (QoS) support in such applications is critical to their widespread acceptance.To the best of our knowledge, there has been no existing open-source MPEG-4 multimedia streaming applications in the academic community, which leads to the lack of research results using MPEG-4 streaming, especially with respect to Quality-of-Service support. In this work, we have implemented an open-source MPEG-4 multimedia streaming testbed in IP-based networks. In this paper, we show our experiences and lessons learned with such a testbed. First, we describe the algorithms and solutions used in our implemention testbed, emphasizing several critical issues. Second, through extensive experiments, we demonstrate measurements of bandwidth requirements and data loss for streaming a set of multimedia samples with different bit rates over UDP, which is ubiquitously available in the TCP/IP protocol stack on all consumer operating systems. Finally, future work for further improvements is also discussed.
3208295
Price-based resource allocation in wireless ad hoc networks
The shared-medium multi-hop nature of wireless ad hoc networks poses fundamental challenges to the design of an effective resource allocation algorithm to maximize the aggregated utility of flows, while maintaining basic fairness among multiple flows. When previously proposed scheduling algorithms have been shown to perform well in providing fair shares of bandwidth among single-hop wireless flows, they did not consider multi-hop flows with an end-to-end perspective. Moreover, the resource allocation strategies employed in the wireline network can not be applied directly in the context of ad hoc networks due to the unique characteristic of location dependent contention and spatial reuse of the shared wireless channel. In this paper, we propose a price-based resource allocation model to achieve maximized aggregated utility (i.e., social welfare) of flows. Our original contributions are: First, we propose to use maximal clique-associated shadow prices for wireless channel access coordination, rather than link-associated price for wireline link access arbitration. Second, we present a new pricing policy for end-to-end multi-hop flow. Using this model, different fairness goals can be realized in ad hoc networks for end-to-end flows. With a two-tier distributed and iterative algorithm, scarce channel capacity is allocated fairly among multi-hop flows from an end-to-end perspective, using shadow prices as the mechanism to arbitrate channel access. Through extensive analysis and simulation results, we show that our proposed algorithm is able to fairly distribute resources among multi-hop flows, while simultaneously maximizing the aggregated utility of flows globally.
5921080
Dynamic reconfiguration for complex multimedia applications
Current state-of-the-art distributed multimedia applications require an environment that provides stable quality of service (QoS). However, these applications typically run on best-effort heterogeneous platforms, and compete with other applications or connections for end system and network resources, hence suffer from instability and dynamic variations with regards to QoS. We present a dynamically reconfigurable middleware control architecture to enhance adaptation awareness of these applications. Our middleware architecture allows for detecting QoS fluctuations in the surrounding environment and signaling optimal control actions to the application. Furthermore, we discuss the design of a core component, the Configurator, that adopts a fuzzy control approach to compute optimal control actions. Preliminary experimental results with a distributed visual tracking application show that our approach is viable and effective in controlling adaptive applications.
8043231
QoS-Aware Adaptive Services in Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks
Ad-hoc wireless networks consist of mobile nodes interconnected by multi-hop wireless paths. Unlike conventional wireless networks, ad-hoc networks have no fixed network infrastructure or administrative support. Because of the dynamic nature of the network topology and limited bandwidth of wireless channels, Quality-of-Service (QoS) provisioning is an inherently complex and difficult issue. In this paper, we propose a fully distributed and adaptive algorithm to provide statistical QoS guarantees with respect to accessibility of services in an ad-hoc network. In this algorithm, we focus on the optimization of a new QoS parameter of interest, service efficiency, while keeping protocol overheads to the minimum. To achieve this goal, we first theoretically derive the lower and upper bounds of service efficiency based on a novel model for group mobility, followed by extensive simulation results to verify the effectiveness of our algorithm.
2274256
Overlay Networks with Linear Capacity Constraints
Overlay networks are virtual networks residing over the IP network; consequently, overlay links may share hidden lower level bottlenecks. Previous work has assumed an independent overlay model: a graph with independent link capacities. We introduce a model of overlays that incorporates correlated link capacities and linear capacity constraints (LCC) to formulate hidden shared bottlenecks; we refer to these as LCC-overlays. We define metrics to qualitatively measure overlay quality in terms of its accuracy (in representing the true network topology) and efficiency (that is, performance). Through analysis and simulations, we show that LCC-overlay is perfectly accurate and, hence, enjoys much higher efficiency than the inaccurate independent overlay. We discover that even a highly restricted LCC class-node-based LCC-yields near-optimal accuracy and significantly higher efficiency. We study two network flow problems in the context of LCC-graphs: widest path and maximum flow. We prove that Widest Path with LCC is NP-complete. We formulate Maximum Flow with LCC as a linear program and propose an efficient distributed algorithm to solve it. Based on the LCC model, we further study the problem of optimizing delay while still maintaining optimal or near-optimal bandwidth. We also outline a distributed algorithm to efficiently construct an overlay with node-based LCC.
15776548
Cross-layer flow control in lightly-loaded multi-hop ad hoc networks
The throughput in multi-hop ad hoc networks (MANETs) is highly dependent on the sending rate and the route length from the source node to the destination. Sending packets at the optimal rate for a given route length maximizes throughput in the network, whereas slightly increasing the sending rate over the optimal value may decrease throughput by up to 55%. This paper presents a novel cross-layer technique for flow control in lightly-loaded MANETs. The technique allows applications to send packets at the rate that maximizes throughput for a given route length. To achieve this, the routing layer notifies interested applications about routing changes, and the applications adaptively modify their sending rates based on the new route length to the destination. In static and mobile networks, this technique outperforms UDP-based flows with a fixed sending rate and doubles the throughput of TCP for networks with up to 2 concurrent flows.
5295208
Bit rate reduction of H.264/AVC video coding for mobile applications
The increasing use of mobile applications requires higher compression efficiency for video coding. However, in mobile applications, the capability of the processor is limited and the channel is unreliable. Since the emerging H.264/AVC video coding standard provides superior compression performance compared to all the existing video coding standards, many research efforts concentrate on the compression efficiency of intra-frame coding in H.264/AVC. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm to reduce the bit rate compressed by H.264/AVC intra-frame coding. We focus on the method to code the intra-frame prediction modes. Our proposed method significantly reduces the bits used to code the modes and do not change the syntax of the bit stream. Experimental results demonstrate it is effective and efficient
14151705
An adaptive k-nearest neighbor text categorization strategy
k is the most important parameter in a text categorization system based on the k-nearest neighbor algorithm (kNN). To classify a new document, the k-nearest documents in the training set are determined first. The prediction of categories for this document can then be made according to the category distribution among the k nearest neighbors. Generally speaking, the class distribution in a training set is not even; some classes may have more samples than others. The system's performance is very sensitive to the choice of the parameter k. And it is very likely that a fixed k value will result in a bias for large categories, and will not make full use of the information in the training set. To deal with these problems, an improved kNN strategy, in which different numbers of nearest neighbors for different categories are used instead of a fixed number across all categories, is proposed in this article. More samples (nearest neighbors) will be used to decide whether a test document should be classified in a category that has more samples in the training set. The numbers of nearest neighbors selected for different categories are adaptive to their sample size in the training set. Experiments on two different datasets show that our methods are less sensitive to the parameter k than the traditional ones, and can properly classify documents belonging to smaller classes with a large k. The strategy is especially applicable and promising for cases where estimating the parameter k via cross-validation is not possible and the class distribution of a training set is skewed.
10610312
Semantic sports video analysis: approaches and new applications
In this paper, we show that event-based semantic analysis of sports video can be achieved through two major classes of methods: approaches using deterministic reasoning and approaches depending on probabilistic inference. Deterministic approaches depend on an explicit description of an event and an explicit representation of the event in terms of low-level aural-visual features that can be automatically detected. Probabilistic approaches are based on some proper state/transition models whose parameters are learnt through labeled training sequences. We first discuss the pros and cons of the two classes of approaches. Next, we present algorithms of these two types for a new application, automatic analysis of coaching video (which is different from sports broadcast programs that have been subject of most prior work).
3584727
Simple offset assignment in presence of subword data
Many embedded architectures support indirect addressing mode with autoincrement/autodecrement. By maximizing the use of this mode, generation of explicit instructions for performing address arithmetic can be avoided and thus reductions in code size and improvements in performance are achieved. Bartley [2] and Liao et al. [16] developed a method for finding a storage layout for program variables so that the use of autoincrement/autodecrement could be maximized. They introduced the Simple Offset Assignment (SOA) problem and solved it using a Path Cover (PC) formulation.We observe that many media and network processing applications make extensive use of subword data. Therefore, for such applications, by packing multiple subword variables into a single word, we can generate storage layouts that further reduce the cost of address arithmetic in two ways. First the need for address arithmetic is reduced as variables that are packed together share the same address. Second opportunities for using autoincrement andautodecrement instructions are increased as layouts are now possible which place a variable adjacent to more than two variables. This approach has become feasible because of the recent trend in embedded processor design which allows subword variables that are packed together to be accessed and manipulated without incurring performance penalty. We introduce the SubWord Offset Assignment (SWOA) problem and solve it using a Path Cover with Node Coalescing (PCwNC) formulation. Node coalescing corresponds to packing of multiple subword variables into a single word while path covering corresponds to placement of variables in adjacent memory locations to enable the use of autoincrement/autodecrement. We present three heuristics to solve the PCwNC problem. Experiments show that when the program is optimized for code size, the three proposed algorithms achieve 26%, 26.9% and 32% reduction in the number of static explicit address arithmetic instructions over Liao et al.'s algorithm. The algorithms also achieve 14.5%, 22.1%and 22.7% reduction in stack frame size. If the program is optimized for performance, the algorithms achieve 24.3%, 24.7% and 30.2% reduction in the dynamic instruction count of explicit address arithmetic instructions.
11775748
Schema Mapping for Interoperability in XML-based multidatabase
The main aim of a multidatabase system (MDBS) is to achieve data integration and interoperability among distributed and heterogeneous database systems. But data model heterogeneity and schema make this a challenging task. Multidatabase users can only view the global schemas whose real data come from local database systems. Thus, mappings from global schemas to local schemas should be established. At the same time, the recent emergence of XML has shown great intractability as a new standard for data representation and exchange on the Web. A data model based on XML becomes more suitable for integrating different types of systems. This paper firstly introduces a multidatabase common data model based on XML, named XML-based Integration Model (XIDM). Then, an approach of schema mappings based on XIDM in MDBSs has been presented. Finally, the illustration and implementation of schema mappings in a multidatabase prototype - Panorama are also discussed.