Analysis and Design of Advanced Multiservice Networks Supporting Mobility, Multimedia, and Internetworking: COST Action 279 Final Report - Tapa dura

This book constitutes the Final Report of COST Action 279, Analysis and DesignofAdvancedMultiserviceNetworkssupportingMultimedia,Mobility, andInterworking, a guided tour of the state-of-the-art work on diverse aspects of modern telecommunications networks design developed within this Action during the four years of its operation, started on July 1, 2001, and ended on June 30, 2005. As stated in its founding charter, its Memorandum of Understanding, the work area of COST 279 is the analysis, design, and control aspects of prese- day networks-quite a wide scope. Behind the unifying fac ¸ade put on by the Internet Protocol (IP) network layer, todays networks hide a mess of hete- geneity: heterogeneity at the level of applications, both concerning the traf?c they produce and the network Quality of Service (QoS) they require, and h- erogeneity at the level of network component subsystems, in particular an - creasingly important mobile/wireless access segment. A common ground for the treatment of this disparate set of topics was given by the strong meth- ological component contained in the approach followed in COST 279, with importance placed on the development and application, whenever possible, of analytical techniques and models for the mathematical understanding of the systems under study. The results expected from the Action ranged thus from mathematical models and algorithms as entities of own interest to the und- standing of systembehavior via their application.

The recent trend towards the interoperability of traditionally separate networks, such as terrestrial, wireless/cellular, and satellite, for the support of multimedia applications poses new and significantly challenging problems to network design. This book reports on the state-of-the-art work developed during the four years of operation of the COST 279 Action, Analysis and Design of Advanced Multiservice Networks supporting Mobility, Multimedia, and Internetworking, by its participating researchers, originating from over 40 research institutions from the academic, industrial, and telecom operator worlds. The work includes both fundamental, methodological, and applied aspects of network performance evaluation and design. Analysis and Design of Advanced Multiservice Networks Supporting Mobility, Multimedia, and Internetworking contains a detailed account of the work developed, supported on an extensive bibliography of material published in the peer-reviewed literature. It contains the following six chapters: IP-Based Networks Queueing Models Traffic Measurement, Characterization, and Modeling Wireless Networks Optical Networks Peer-to-Peer Services Analysis and Design of Advanced Multiservice Networks Supporting Mobility, Multimedia, and Internetworking will appeal to both practitioners of network design, and to researchers aiming to map future directions in networking research.