NeTS: Small: Scalable Wireless Mesh Network Technology at the Edge for Efficient Mobile Video Data Access on Demand

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The growing popularity of wireless networks at the periphery of the Internet, combined with the need for ubiquitous access to video on demand (VoD) applications, calls for a new generation of video streaming technology. This research is investigating techniques to enable efficient VoD service over wireless mesh networks (WMN). Four methods are studied: wPatching is a multicast technique designed to leverage the broadcast nature of WMN to support VoD applications; Dynamic Stream Merging utilizes smart mesh nodes to merge video streams in order to conserve wireless resources; a hybrid environment uses mobile nodes as relay nodes to extend the service range of the WMN; and Constrained Multicast provides efficient and seamless handoffs for mobile users in the WMN by eliminating Internet router (layer-3) handoff delay. Along with extensive simulation studies, a prototype is developed to experiment with the Dynamic Stream Merging and Constrained Multicast techniques. These new streaming methods provide an enabling technology to extend VoD applications beyond the traditional wired environment to reach mobile users on wireless networks at the edges. The result is a new paradigm for efficient management of VoD traffic over a WMN. Applications such as digital libraries, distance learning, public information systems, electronic commerce, and video entertainment will benefit from this innovative streaming technology. The software and protocols developed for this project will be made available to other researchers to facilitate and encourage future research and application experimentation.