Janusz Gozdecki

Quality of service terminology in IP networks

This article provides an overview of commonly used terminology related to quality of service assurance in IP networks. Several approaches to QoS definition, including those of IETF, ITU, and ETSI, are presented and compared. Terms associated with QoS like class of service, grade of service, service level agreement, as well as service level specification (SLS), traffic conditioning agreement (TCA), and traffic conditioning specification (TCS) are discussed. Terminology used in two QoS architectures, IntServ and DiffServ, is also introduced.

Coexistence Issues in Future WiFi Networks

Current advancements within the WiFi domain, such as network densification, traffic offloading, and IoT support, pave the way for increased user and operator satisfaction with future (5G and beyond) network deployments. However, without seamless coexistence of novel and legacy WiFi devices as well as between heterogeneous WiFi networks, the goal of ubiquitous and effortless wireless access may be delayed. In this article, we identify several future WiFi use cases based on current trends in the research community as well as developments within IEEE 802.11 and analyze the functionalities required in these use cases, taking into consideration two important aspects: coexistence between new and legacy WiFi devices, and inter-network interference. Through our research we show that, despite several identified shortcomings and open issues, WiFi will definitely be a crucial component of future network deployments.

A flexible provisioning module optimizing utilization of resources for the future internet IIP initiative

In this paper, we present design and implementation aspects of a network resource provisioning module proposed for the Polish Initiative of Future Internet called System IIP (being currently one of major European projects aimed at designing the Internet of the Future). In particular, we introduce novel LP optimization models of network resource provisioning designed to minimize the resource consumption, as well as maximize the residual capacity. In the latter part of the paper, we provide evaluation of the proposed models characteristics, and additionally outline the aspects of module implementation and integration with the respective network management module.

Enabling autonomicity in wireless mesh networks with the ETSI AFI GANA reference model

Summary The distributed nature of wireless mesh networks (WMNs) allows them to benefit from multiple autonomic functionalities. However, the existing landscape of self-x solutions (eg, self-configuration) is fragmented and the lack of a standardized framework through which interoperable autonomics can be developed has been hampering adoption and deployment of autonomics in real-world service networks. There is a need for a standardized architectural framework that enables to comprehensively support and integrate interoperable components for autonomicity in WMNs. Such an architecture (autonomicity-enabled wireless mesh architecture) is currently being standardized by the working group called Evolution of Management towards Autonomic Future Internet (AFI) in the European Telecommunications Standards Institute within the Network Technologies Technical Committee. The proposed autonomic wireless mesh architecture is an instantiation of the AFI GANA (Generic Autonomic Network Architecture) reference model, a standards-based approach to autonomics. This paper complements and extends the early version of the architecture by further detailing the architectural principles and providing experimental and validation results. First, we provide a brief overview of the AFI GANA reference model and then show how each of its building blocks can be instantiated for WMNs. We evaluate the proposed architecture by implementing and testing the 4 basic self-x functionalities defined by the GANA model. The provided guidelines can now help researchers and engineers build autonomicity-enabled WMNs using a standardized framework that enables adoption and deployment of autonomics by industry, thereby enabling researchers and engineers to contribute to the further evolution of the standard in the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.

Book reviews [2 books reviewed]

The following books are reviewed: Tactical Wireless Communications and Networks: Design Concepts and Challenges (Elmasry, G.F) and FISMA and the Risk Management Framework: The new Practice of Federal Cyber Security (Gantz, S.D. and Philpott, D.R.).

Implementation and validation aspects of network resource provisioning module for the Future Internet IIP initiative

Over 40 research projects are currently on-going worldwide aimed at designing the new architecture of the Internet. One of these projects - System IIP led in Poland - covers a wide spectrum of issues including network technologies, architectures, virtualization aspects, and applications. In this paper, we focus on implementation issues of network resource provisioning in System IIP, as well as on its relations with the management system. Network resource provisioning module is described first with special focus on variants of proposed LP models and heuristic algorithms. The latter part of the paper is to present results of numerical experiments performed to verify the characteristics of the provisioning module.

Provisioning concepts for the Future Internet IIP initiative

The paper presents the network provisioning proposed for the Future Internet solution called System IIP. The relation of the provisioning rule to the management strategy is described. The required input parameters as well as two proposed approaches to provisioning are given. The first approach formulates an optimization problem with the goal function minimizing total power consumption. The second solution is based on a heuristic approach to allocate resources sequentially. Implementation and computational issues are also briefly addressed.

Multicast Mobility in Heterogeneous Technologies: Experimental Validation

The convergence of services and technologies has been driven by service and network providers with the aim to develop a unified infrastructure. From the services side, we have multimedia through unicast, multicast and broadcast services. From the technologies side, we have wired and wireless technologies, including unidirectional technologies such as Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB). These trends allied to the increasing mobility and QoS demands, introduce strong requirements to future telecommunication networks. This paper presents an innovative approach to handle multicast services in a heterogeneous networks environment, including broadcast technologies. The presented architecture aims at guaranteeing end-to-end QoS in mobile scenarios, efficiently handling the underlying network resources and integrating the emerging broadcast technologies. This architecture was developed in a real environment with mobility of multicast sessions through heterogeneous technologies, Wi-Fi and DVB, using also Wi-Fi as a return channel. The results show that the architecture is able to support the seamless mobility of users receiving multicast sessions, with low degradation on the running communications.

Support of mobility and QOS in broadcast unidirectional networks

One main trend in 4th generation networks (4G) is to provide a common and scalable framework for seamless communication through a number of access technologies, wired and wireless, including unidirectional technologies such as DVB. In this paper we present an architecture for seamless mobility and QoS for the integration of unidirectional networks like DVB, featuring ubiquitous access and seamless mobility.

Mobile Web Services [Book Review]

Transformation of cellular phones from voice-oriented devices to Internet supporting devices provides new potential areas for development of new Webbased services. Mobile Web Services provides a description of necessary network elements, network protocols, and service designing languages to provide a mobile user access to Web content anywhere, anytime, and on any device equipped with any Web browser. The book outlines major functionalities required by Web services, such as user location representation and tracking, security schemes, the concept of ontology, user context, privacy and content personalization, and adaptation techniques of Web content to user device capabilities. In the first chapter, “The Mobile Web Landscape,” the author describes the main concept of mobile Web services: mobile network types used (mainly cellular networks); the roles of network operator, service provider, and content provider; and the concept of Web services with a focus on contextaware services. He also outlines economic aspects of Web services for cellular network operators, and mentions the main bodies involved in mobile Web services standardization. At the end of the chapter Extensible Markup Language (XML) and XML Schema are introduced as basic languages for development of Web-based services. XML code is also used very often in many source code examples in the book. Chapter 2, “Wireless System Architecture,” is mainly dedicated to the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) series of standards defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). The WAP standards are used for presentation and delivery of wireless information and telephony services on mobile terminals. At the end, the NTT DoCoMo i-mode platform architecture and realization of WAP 2.0 and i-mode over the GSM GPRS mobile packet data network is outlined. Chapter 3, “Wireless Terminals and Wireless Content,” describes cellular terminal capabilities from different manufacturers with focus on realization of mobile Web services. Also, the evolution of terminals from voice-oriented to all-services-enabled terminals is presented. The main part of the chapter describes markup languages for mobile (mainly cellular) terminals: HDML, WML, cHTML, and XHTML. Chapter 4, “User Mobility and Location Management,” is dedicated to mobile user location tracking solutions. In the beginning, IP (both IPv4 and IPv6) mobility techniques are briefly described. Then mobile user location tracking techniques are presented. The main part of the chapter describes the location data models and location data access techniques. At the end of the chapter the United States 911 service, implementing user location tracking, is presented. Chapter 5, “Wireless Network Security,” presents, very important in modern commercial systems, security aspects of the connection between a mobile terminal and a network content server. It covers data transmission protection including SLS and TLS protocols, endpoint access protection (password-based and certificate-based, and authorization framework), and Web services security aspects. At the end, XML security, the WS-security system, and Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) are described. In Chapter 6, “Personalization and Privacy,” the author introduces personalization concepts and associated security concerns: objectives of personalization, user models used in personalization, recommender systems, and the main parts of a system architecture that enables personalization. In the second part of the chapter World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C’s) Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) is described. Chapter 7, “Ontologies and RDF Schema,” and Chapter 8 “Ontology of Mobile User Context,” are dedicated to the ontology concept. In the first of the chapters ontology definition, design, and specification are presented. For ontology specification the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and RDF Schema (RDFS) are used, and described in detail. Both RDF and RDFS were developed by W3C. In Chapter 8 an ontology example for a mobile user context is presented using RDF graphs, RDF code, and XML code examples. The example covers ontologies for a city tourism/entertainment application, including the dynamic user context, user tracking, and communication scenarios. In Chapter 9, “XSLT for Web Content Presentation,” solutions for adapting Web content to different mobile terminals’ display capabilities are presented. The Web database content is stored in XML documents, and an Extensible Style Sheet Language Transformations (XSLT) processor can dynamically, based on user and terminal preferences, apply XSLT sheets to these representations to generate markup that can be rendered by a mobile terminal browser. In the chapter core capabilities of XSLT style sheet programming and leveraging of XSLT to generate displayable content that reflects context awareness of a mobile user are described. In Chapter 10, “Mobile Web Network,” the author elaborates on an architecture of a network that enables delivery of personalized Web information to mobile users. He describes required network elements such as a mobile terminal, an application server, a context manager, a service directory, Web services, an authorization, authentication, and accounting (AAA) server, and a wireless gateway. Also, the message flow between the network elements is outlined in this chapter. At the end, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Web Service Description Language (WSDL) are presented. In the last chapter, “Context-Aware Tourist Information System,” the Context-Aware Tourist Information Service (CATIS) is presented. It is an experimental mobile network developed at Northwestern University for mobile tourists requesting service of restaurant information in their vicinity. The system uses information of mobile user preferences (including terminal type) and location. In the chapter the architecture of the system, network elements, protocols, and interfaces are described. All content in the chapter is complemented by source code examples. The book is written in easy, understandable English, with many valuable pictures visualizing the content of the book. The pictures are grayscale, and therefore some of them are hardly readable (e.g., Figure 1.2). There are a lot of good source code examples complementing the content of the book. Each chapter ends with references and supplemental reading related to the content of the chapter. I would like to recommend the book for students interested in wireless services and networks, mobile network managers, and as a good introduction to the subject for engineers interested in designing Web services in wireless networks.