User Bad Receiving

Whenever a user is receiving the multiparty content below the desired QoS level, it sends a message to NUM notifying it about the problem. This message only carries the addresses of the user and the AP in which he was connected. In this situation the system will verify if this user can be reallocated in another access network that can hold its requirements.

Taking into account that to perform any action in this context-awareness scheme it is necessary to consider all the relevant types of information available, before NUM operates any search envisioning the network adaptation to this situation it must possess users, sources, environmental and network contexts.

So, rstly NUM will discover which is the ow ID of the trac that was being received by the aected user. To do this it is called the function search_d_userAP,

being the user and AP addresses the arguments passed to it. This function searches in the list userPosition for the ow ID that the user is receiving in the specicated AP.

Then, using the function search_sessID_dPaths, it is discovered the session ID aected by this failure. At this time NUM has the conditions to trigger CB with an update request envisioning the refresh of user, sources, and environmental context. So, a request-update message is sent and as response CB passes to NUM all the information available about the user and the ow under treatment.

At this point, similarly to the session establishment process, it is asked to the function decide_AP to search an alternative and suitable access point to accommodate the ow.

If this function does not nd any suitable AP, i.e. none of the existing APs have for example sucient free bandwidth to full the QoS requirements and maintain the network balanced, the network will reject the request of the user, and it remains in the same access network.

However, if it nds an AP that can hold properly the trac without damage the QoS requirements of the users already served it will return the address of this AP.

Then, through the function searchAlternative is performed an algorithm to discover an alternative path in the core network. This algorithm is similar to the one executed in the session setup process. So, it will rst try to nd a complete path already reserved for this ow ID in the structure pathsFid, or a part of one that can be used to concatenate a new Sub-AMT path. If none of these hypotheses is possible, the algorithm can even calculate an entire new path since the source of trac until the AP. If even after all these attempts of dening an alternative path, none was found, the request of the user will be rejected, and it will stay in the same access network. Whereas, if it was found a path, the next step is to compare it with the still active old path in order to determine which is the best between the two.

In case of the old path is better than the recently discovered, the request of the user will also be rejected because he is already connected through the best available distribution path.

On the other hand, if the newer path is better, it is reserved and updates are performed in all the relevant structures so the information stored in NUM can be always up to date. In this way, the actions performed by this module are always done upon current state of the network.

Finally, it is also essential to perform the release of the old path. To execute this process, it is taken a similar approach to the one described in the Section 4.6.9. So, it is veried how many users are receiving the same content through the old AP, and what is the routing technology used by the user that has requested the adaptation, and

the release is made accordingly.

In order to better understand the entire mechanism, it is presented in Figure 24 the process diagram.

Bad Receive

NUM interacts with CB to adquire contexts

Is there an available

AP?

Search for the best available path

Was found a path? The request is ignored Yes No Yes No

The request is not repeted, and there were not served

more than one from the same AP-fid pair?

Requires for the best AP to connect the

user, if available

Is this path found better than the currently used? No Reserve the new path Update the related structures Are there more users using the old

path? Release the

entire old path

Update the related structures

User leave the multicast group End of function No Yes Yes

The Figure 25 shows the exchange of messages performed to support the process.

USER NUM MTO CB

Warning Bad Receive Request Alternative Access Network Connection Return Alternative Access Network Connection

- Search for an alternative communication path to connect the user

- Decide if it is better to change the user connection for the new path

- Allocates IP multicast address (if applicable)

Configure MTO parameters to leave a group or release a path

- Configure MTO tree connections - Stop data delivery through old path

Configure MTO parameters to join a group or reserve a path

- Allocates communications port - Configure MTO tree connections - Start data delivery through the

new path Only if the alternative path

is better than the old one

Contexts Request

Contexts Infomation

Figure 25: High-Level Message Sequence Chart for Bad Receiving Warning.

4.7 Conclusion

This chapter presents the extensions done in Network Simulator in order to develop and evaluate NUM module.

Despite the challenge and diculties associated with the introduction of new fea- tures in the NS architecture, it is possible to conclude that the basic functionalities of C-CAST architecture were satisfactorily implemented.

The most important module implemented was the Network Use Management that is responsible to perform the decision process, and has to deal with the management of available resources in the entire network, providing the best service delivered to the

users through the most suitable network paths. The service has to take into account the context of several entities, which are stored in a Context Broker, thus the interaction between NUM and CB was also developed. Moreover, in order to enable the capacity of reserve or release bandwidth in the physical layer, it was also implemented an interface with MTO, which acts like an intermediate element between the lower and the higher network levels.

In order to properly react to context changes, providing a scalable and ecient approach, it is essential to store some information in a database placed in NUM. The structures used to hold this information, and the methods to keep them always up-to- date are also explained in this chapter.

There were developed some functionalities besides the session establishment, which takes place when NUM is triggered by the Session Manager with a session setup. These features enable the re-allocation of users in two cases: when, by a physical failure a user is disconnected from the access network, and whenever a user is receiving the trac ows improperly. Both cases improve the network performance and eciency, preventing undesirable situations.

Some changes had to be made to the theoretical approach presented in Chapter 3. These arrangements were also described in this chapter, being also referred the advantages and disadvantages placed by the changes made.

5 Architecture Evaluation via Simulation Studies

5.1 Introduction

This chapter exposes a performance evaluation of the network selection scheme, done by NUM module, implemented through dierent scenarios. It also contains a study concerning the features implemented to re-connect the users in undesirable sit- uations.

Section 5.2 explains the scenario and the topology used in NS-2.31 to evaluate dierent aspects of the network selection problem. As several simulations will be performed, it is also described a generic scenario and the congurations made to enable the dierent tests.

The following sections provide the results and conclusions of dierent evaluations, measuring the performance and comparing the results obtained for dierent congura- tion parameters.

So, in Section 5.3 is evaluated how the number of users may inuence the network performance. In Section 5.4, the inuence in the network performance of the number of unicast nodes is evaluated. Regarding the importance of ONs in the network reor- ganization, several scenarios will be studied in Section 5.5, with dierent numbers of ONs in order to evaluate their inuence in the network performance.

As the occurence of connection failures require several network recongurations, in the Section 5.6 will be presented practical examples of network reorganizations after a failure situation, using dierent numbers of ONs. It is also compared the time needed to reconnect the users in the dierent scenarios.

Finally, Section 5.7 summarizes the results obtained in evaluations made and pro- vides the conclusions reached.