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Composite Radio and Enhanced service Delivery for the Olympics

Deliverables

Prototype composite radio testbed and related traffic-generation tools is the ensemble of hardware, software, architecture description and user’s manuals allowing to set up experiments in the CREDO context. Prototype implementations of the various project components have been developed and integrated into a composite radio testbed, consisting of a GSM/GPRS segment (part of a commercial cellular network), an IEEE802.11b-based Wireless LAN, and a DVB-T segment. An IPv4 fixed network backbone interconnects the wireless networks together and with the Internet. Furthermore, the testbed incorporates components for Mobile IP functionality, towards enabling vertical handovers. The Mobile IP components have been enhanced to allow proper functionality with NAT-based systems (e.g., GPRS networks) and with unidirectional systems (like DVB-T). Additionally, the testbed features: - A prototype implementation of the Network and Service Management System (NSMS, see the corresponding result) for the joint management of the wireless networks. - Prototype wireless terminals, capable for multiple radio access and equipped with the Terminal Station Management System (TSMS, see the corresponding result) that allows intelligent exploitation of the terminals’ multi-modality. The TSMS module on each terminal interacts with NSMS through the CREDO TSMS-NSMS Protocol /Network Access Coordination Protocol (CTNP/NACP, see the relevant result). The terminals are equipped with service client software, which interacts with TSMS by means of the API named CREDO-Applications TSMS Protocol (CATP, see the relevant result). - Facilities for generating IP traffic of a configurable magnitude and profile and facilities for selective packet capturing and traffic monitoring. The testbed has been used in public technology demonstrations and in validation/evaluation experiments, according to pre-specified experiment scenarios. It is available as a tool for further study/exploitation (jointly or severally) of the various technical solutions it employs and for further examination of the potential that can be achieved through the composite radio concept.
Network and Service Management System (NSMS) assists heterogeneous wireless access networks in their operation in composite radio environments. It enables the different operators to optimise service delivery through their diverse radio systems. Additionally, the NSMS is capable of driving the user terminals to the appropriate quality level and network for each service, in a “transparent” manner. The Network and Service Management System (NSMS) developed by CREDO allows for the exploitation of a composite radio (CR) infrastructure. It drives users (CREDO terminals) to the appropriate quality level for each service and the appropriate network of the CR environment, in a “transparent” manner. In other words, it guides users to the “best” wireless access technology for a set of requested services, terminal profiles and network availability. Furthermore, the NSMS assists heterogeneous wireless access networks in their inter-operation in composite radio environments and is essential for the cost-effective provision of services through CR environments. Due to the complementary role of the wireless access networks of a CR infrastructure, a Network Provider (NP) can choose, instead of rejecting users or of degrading their Quality of Service (QoS) levels, to direct them to an alternate radio technology. For users and SPs, the supporting radio technology can be irrelevant, as long as cost and QoS criteria are met. Therefore, the NSMS platform that CREDO deployed constitutes an innovative development that boosts the evolution, enhancement and effectiveness of e-business, e-work, and e-commerce applications, by supporting quality for new, sophisticated services. Individuals, organisations, and markets can benefit from the advantages of such applications. SPs are enabled to better serve their customers, and NPs are able to increase their market share by promoting their infrastructure. Additionally, NPs exploit their networks more efficiently.
The CREDO Service Supporting framework: - Client-side: CREDO Application TSMS protocol (CATP). - Server-side: enhanced (with respect to IBM web-authoring products) content management suite. The CREDO Application-TSMS protocol is an important definition framework for the implementation of enhanced applications. It is a framework that enables the interface between applications and terminal in order to exploit composite radio environment systems. The important factor is that in the CREDO project the implementation of this component was done outside the core application and therefore it is reusable in not only for CREDO specific applications but also for ‘legacy’ applications. This is an important step in the implementation of applications that are targeted to demanding environments. The impact in application development in the case of implementation on composite radio environments is important as it can be exploited not only in the CREDO services but also in other service provision, such as voice applications. Another important direction for exploiting the project’s results is related to the potential for enhancing and expanding the usage of various existing application tools developed/employed by the company, so as to gain both experience and feedback. Such experience can be directly incorporated into IBM’s web-authoring products, like the Websphere, DB2 and content management, part of which is the video charger server. It should be pointed out that the results of the project are of benefit to, not only IBM Hellas, but also to other IBM research locations, which, although not directly present in the consortium, are in deep and constant cooperation with the Greek branch. Accordingly, the results will also be of use to locations like the T.J. Watson Research centre in the US since they are going to be presented in one of the following internal technical meetings.
The "Composite Radio and Enhanced service Delivery for the Olympics" (CREDO) deployment study analyses the impact of deployment of a “CREDO like” technology in a composite GPRS/UMTS/WLAN infrastructure owned by an incumbent operator in a large Western European country. A “CREDO like” technology is addressed, rather than the specific technology demonstrated by the EU project, in order to not to undergo the same constraints that have limited the scope of the demonstration but to explore the most promising evolutions and exploitations of the EU project results. The time-span for the analysis is 2003-2008, even if it is assumed that the CREDO technology starts penetrating the market only in 2005. The benefits of the deployment of such a technology are analysed from two different perspectives: - By evaluating the impact on UMTS RAN dimensioning and the resulting CAPEX; - By analysing the positive effects on the operator’s brand and customer life-time value thanks to the highly innovative content, the improved quality of service and the increased service portfolio. Both analyses lead to the conclusion that the returns of CREDO are worth the initial investment (positive Net Present Values (NPVs)). Besides, the two perspectives are not mutually exclusive and, therefore, the operator could take advantage of both, with a resulting NPV that is still higher.
Terminal Station Management System (TSMS) is a self-contained software suite allowing to control the telecom and O&M functions of a Terminal capable of transmission/reception over cellular, WLAN, DVB. It can work ‘standalone’ or in peer-to-peer connection with the Network and Services Management System (NSMS). The TSMS (Terminal Station Management System) is the core of the CREDO terminal. TSMS allows uninterrupted service reception for the end-user, no matter what transport wireless network (GPRS, WLAN, DVB-T) is used. The TSMS consists of the following functional entities: - NSMS Interaction Module: This module is responsible for the communication between the TSMS and the NSMS (Network and Services Management System) through the CTNP (CREDTO TSMS-NSMS Protocol) protocol. The NSMS Interaction module ultimately allows network-driven vertical handover. - Application Interface: The interface between the applications and the TSMS uses the CATP (CREDO Applications-TSMS Protocol). The Application Interface allows mapping application-related QoS constraints to network-related QoS measurements. - Network Selector, which gathers the following data: --Network data; a list of the available networks and a list of preferred networks, the latter specified by the NSMS. -- Service data; a list of the service definitions and a list of the currently running services, as requested by the running applications. -- Quality information; various quality parameters from the network and link layer levels, such as the GPRS carrier level or the IEEE802.11b signal level. - Handover Middleware: It is responsible for the networking configuration of the terminal. It manages the TCP/IP stack configuration and the network interfaces driver configuration. The handover middleware is also responsible for the Mobile IP implementation. - Quality monitor: It continually polls IP layer and link layer parameters, which may be sent to NSMS over CTNP.
The CTNP is a software suite for allowing TSMS-NSMS peer operation, i.e. a logical connections between the TSMS and NSMS functions. CTNP is not self-contained: TSMS and NSMS are needed as protocol termination points. The CREDO TSMS - NSMS Protocol (CTNP) or Network Access Co-ordination Protocol (NACP) constitutes the interface between the composite radio management system (NSMS) and the multimodal terminal management entity (TSMS), also both developed by the CREDO project. The necessity for defining a specific protocol derives from the fact that additional information has to be exchanged between the management system and the terminals. The TSMS - NSMS interaction ensures that the “local view” of the terminal (radio conditions in the area, specific content services received over that terminal, the QoS levels associated with these services, etc) and the “global view” of the network (traffic load over the various segments, the need to avoid congestion towards preserving QoS, etc) are beneficially combined. The most important messages exchanged are the followings: - “Service Request / Service Reply”, - “Handover Notification”, - “Quality Reports”. Although CREDO project for simplicity reasons introduced the CTNP as a stand-alone UDP protocol, the underlying philosophy and the content of the exchanged messages could be easily implemented over TCP or be included as an extension at already existing session or mobility handling protocols (e.g. SIP or MIP).

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