Performance Evaluation of Voice Over IP on WiMAX and WiFi Based Networks

Presentation slides, demo slides, and final report (PDF files).

Abstract:
In recent years, Voice over IP (VoIP) has become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional landline telephone service, allowing users to communicate worldwide with little added cost from their existing Internet connection. When combined with the mobility afforded by long-range wireless networks such as WiMAX, VoIP has the future potential to replace cellular based communication. Unfortunately, network issues such as packet loss and delay affect VoIP call quality, and these issues are more prevalent in wireless networks. This project will investigate the performance of VoIP over WiMAX and WiFi based wireless networks, compared to a baseline wired Ethernet network, to determine how the user calling experience is affected and whether mobile VoIP communication is feasible.

References:
[1] A. Safak and B. Preveze, "Analysis of delay factors for voice over WiMAX," Computer and Information Sciences, 2008. ISCIS '08. 23rd International Symposium on, Oct. 2008, pp. 1-6.
[2] E. Haghani, et al., "On Modeling VoIP Traffic in Broadband Networks," Global Telecommunications Conference, 2007. GLOBECOM '07. IEEE, Nov. 2007, pp. 1922-1926.
[3] D. Zhao and X. Shen, "Performance of packet voice transmission using IEEE 802.16 protocol," Wireless Communications, IEEE, Feb. 2007, pp 44-51.
[4] W. Wang, et al., "Solutions to performance problems in VoIP over a 802.11 wireless LAN," Vehicular Technology, IEEE Transactions on, Jan. 2005, pp. 366-384.
[5] W. Hrudey and Lj. Trajkovic, "Streaming video content over IEEE 802.16/WiMAX broadband access," OPNETWORK 2008, Washington, DC, Aug. 2008.

Controlling Network Traffic Using Location Based Restrictions on BitTorrent Connections

Presentation slides and final report (PDF files).

Abstract:
P2P file sharing networks are not a new phenomenon. In fact, a significant portion of internet bandwidth supplied by ISP's to residential clients is occupied by these applications. A P2P protocol is thus a distributed protocol that can connect users that are next door or across the globe. This creates a problem for the ISP: connections over great distances (ie overseas) require bandwidth on transatlantic communication channels, which is expensive. A commonly used solution is for the ISP to throttle or drop P2P data packets in order to distribute bandwidth more evenly among users. A new solution is to potentially implement location awareness in P2P protocols; either from the ISP or the protocol itself. Location awareness will increase the number of peers that are sharing a file with other peers that are on the same network as them, using cheaper, local bandwidth for transfering large files. This project will thus examine the effect on network performance benchmarks (E2E delay, bandwidth usage etc...) with the implementation of location awareness in a set of networks consisting of high bandwidth bit torrent users, as well as web page servers and their clients.

References:
[1] "Study of the location awareness in bit torrent like networks" URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=4127056
[2] "BitTorrent Location-aware Protocol 1.0 Specification": URL: http://wiki.theory.org/BitTorrent_Location-aware_Protocol_1.0_Specification
[3] "Impact of P2P traffic to the IP communication network performances": URL: http://www.sparc.uni-mb.si/OPNET/PDF/ImpactOfP2P.pdf
[4] "L-CAN: Locality aware structured overlay for P2P live streaming": URL: http://150.140.187.130/getfile.php?fid=36
[5] "The BitTorrent Protocol Specification": URL: http://bittorrent.org/beps/bep_0003.html

Evaluation of VoIP Stability for Long-Distance Call Using OPNET

Presentation slides and final report (PDF files).

Abstract:
VOIP is a technology that permits communication calls to be made over the internet and it is expected to become the mainstream for communication due to its low cost. However, VOIP has the disadvantage of losing packets during routing. The project will evaluate VOIP¡¯s tendency of losing packets on long distance calls and local calls. Furthermore, nose jittering and quality of audio will be measured over distance traveled by packets.

References:
[1] Paul Hegarty, "What Are The Disadvantages of VoIP", http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Are-The-Disadvantages-Of-VoIP?&id=405984
[2] Martin Rowe, "Measure VoIP Networks for Jitter and Loss", http://www.tmworld.com/article/CA187534.html
[3] Ahonen, Jarkko, and Arttu Laine, "Realtime speech and voice transmission on the Internet", www.tcm.hut.fi/Opinnot/Tik-110.551/1997/seminar_paper.html
[4] Yuval Boger, "Fine-tuning Voice over Packet service", http://www.protocols.com/papers/voip2.htm
[5] JR, "The 10 that Established VoIP", http://www.ilocus.com/2007/07/the_10_that_established_voip_p_1.html

ZigBee Mesh Network Simulation Using OPNET and Study of Routing Selection

Presentation slides and final report (PDF files).

Abstract:
ZigBee, formally known as IEEE 802.15.4-2006 standard, is becoming a popular means of creating wireless personal area network (WPAN) due to low power consumption and scalability. ZigBee ad-hoc mesh network is designed to support large number of nodes (>64,000) with dynamic routing incase of error in a node. This project will simulate and explore ZigBee WPAN using OPNET to study the performance fluctuation (delay, packet loss) of a moderate size WPAN with gradual decrease in the number of available nodes.

References:
[1] IEEE Standard for Information technology- Telecommunications and information exchange between systems- Local and metropolitan area networks- Specific requirements Part 15.4: Wireless Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications for Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs), IEEE Standard 802.15.4, 2006. [Online]. Available: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=1700009&isnumber=35824
[2] N. Liang, P. Chen, T. Sun, G. Yang, L. Chen, and M. Gerla, ?Impact of Node Heterogeneity in ZigBee Mesh Network Routing,? in IEEE Int. Conf. Systems, Man and Cybernetics, vol. 1, Taipei, Taiwan, 2006, pp. 187-191. [Online]. Available: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4273827&isnumber=4273788
[3] J. Sun, Z. Wang, H. Wang, and X. Zhang, ?Research on Routing Protocols Based on ZigBee Network,? in Thrid Int. Conf., Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing, vol. 1, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 2007, pp. 639-642. [Online]. Available:http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4457629&isnumber=4457471
[4] X. Li, K. Fang, J. Gu, and L. Zhang, ?An Improved ZigBee Routing Strategy for Monitoring System,? in First Int. Workshop, Intelligent Networks and Intelligent Systems, Wuhan, China, 2008, pp.255-258. [Online]. Available: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4683214&isnumber=4683146
[5] K. K. Lee, S. H. Kim, Y. S. Choi, and H. S. Park, ?A Mesh Routing Protocol using Cluster Label in the ZigBee Network,? in 2006 IEEE Int. Conf., Mobile Adhoc Sensor Systems (MASS), Vancouver, BC, pp. 801-806. [Online]. Available:http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4054000&isnumber=4053890
[6] P. Ran, M. Sun, and Y. Zou, ?ZigBee Routing Selection Strategy Based on Data Services and Energy-balanced ZigBee Routing,? in IEEE Asia-Pacific Conf., Service Computing, Guangzhou, China, 2006, pp. 400-404. [Online]. Available:http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4041264&isnumber=4041196
[7] X. Xu, D. Yuan, and J. Wan, ?An Enhanced Routing Protocol for ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless Networks,? in Second Int. Conf., Future Generation Communication and Networking, Hainan, China, 2008, pp. 294-298. [Online]. Available:http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4734107&isnumber=4734039
[8] C. Evans-Pughe. (2003, March). Is the ZigBee wireless standard, promoted by an alliance of 25 firms, a big threat to Bluetooth?. IEEE Review [Online]. 29, pp. 28-31. Available: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=1196386&isnumber=26924
[9] G. Ding, Z. Sahinoglu, P. Orlik, J. Zhang, and B. Bhargava. (2006, November). Tree-Based Data Broadcast in IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee Network. IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing [Online]. 5(11), pp. 1561-1574. Available: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=1704820&isnumber=3597
[10] Digi International, ?ZigBee Wireless Standard,? Digi Making Wireless M2M Easy. [Online]. Available: http://www.digi.com/technology/rf-articles/wireless-zigbee.jsp. [Accessed: 2009-02-28].

Comparison of TCP with "uTP" for BitTorrent Transfers

Presentation slides and final report (PDF files).

Abstract:
Bitorrent is an application-layer protocol for peer-to-peer transfer of files, and is currently implemented over standard TCP in most of the applications supporting it. Recently, a popular BitTorrent client, uTorrent, began testing a new version which would support a protocol called "uTP", a reliable transport service implemented over UDP that would transfer the BitTorrent application data between clients supporting the uTP protocol. The stated goal of this change to reduce latency and minimize quality of service disruptions to other applications running on a user's internet connection by giving the BitTorrent client direct access to congestion information. This project will simulate the operation of BitTorrent on a network with both the standard implementation and uTP, and see how the change in protocol affects the quality of service for uTorrent users, other BiTorrent client users, and users of common internet services such as http and VOIP.

References:
[1] B. Cohen, "The BitTorrent Protocol Specification," Jan. 2008. [Online]. Available: http://www.bittorrent.org/beps/bep_0003.html [Accessed: March 7, 2009].
[2] R. Chirgwin, "Torrents of Disruption on the Way?," Dec. 4, 2008. [Online] Available: http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/27957-Torrents-of-Disruption-on-the-Way- [Accessed: Feb. 13, 2009].
[3] "µTorrent 1.9 alpha 14589," Nov. 25, 2008. [Online] Available: http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=49813&p=1 [Accessed: Feb. 13, 2009].

ZigBee Transmission Analysis in Tree Topology

Presentation slides, demo slides, and final report (PDF files).

Abstract:
ZigBee, a communication protocol that uses radio-frequency, is used in portable electronics, such as PDA, cellular phones, and game consoles. ZigBee is a low-cost, low-power, wireless mesh networking standard targeted for use in applications requiring low data rates and low power consumption. In the project, we are going to analyze the ZigBee tree topology performance, such as end-to-end delay and throughput. We will analyze the ZigBee network performance on both fixed and mobile nodes.

References:
[1] Ahn S., Cho. J., & An S., ¡§Slotted Beacon Scheduling Using ZigBee Cskip Mechanism,¡¨ Sensor Technologies and Applications, 2008. SENSORCOMM '08. Second International Conference, pp103-108. Aug 2008.
[2] Kim T., Kim D., Park N., Yoo S., & Lopesz T.S. ¡§Shortcut tree routing in ZigBee network,¡¨ Wireless Pervasive Computing, 2007. ISWPC '07. 2nd International Symposium, Feb 2007.
[3] Li Weibo, Sirisena H., & Pawlkowski K., "An address base routing scheme for static applications of wireless sensor networks,¡¨ Telecommunication Networks and Application Conference, 2007. ATNAC 2007. Australasian, pp. 371-376, Dec 2007.
[4] Yeh L., Pan, M.S., & Tseng Y.C., ¡§Two-way beacon scheduling in ZigBee tree-based wireless sensor networks,¡¨ 2008 IEEE International Conference on Sensor Netowrks, Ubiquitous, and Trustworthy Computing(SUTC '08), 130-7, June 2008.
[5] Yen L.H., & Tsai W.T., "Flexible address confguration for tree-based ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 wireless networks" 2008 22nd International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Application - Workshop, pp. 395-402, March 2008.

Implementing the BitTorrent Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Protocol in OPNET

Presentation slides and final report (PDF files).

Abstract:
The concept of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing has been around for a decade, it started with the invention of Napster in 1999. Since then the popularity of the concept has grown considerably. The advantage of P2P network is that it requires minimum (possibly none) amount of server. The client itself is the server. Currently there are 2 types of P2P file sharing protocol that dominates the P2P file sharing network, the Gnutella protocol (LimeWire, ShareAza) and the BitTorrent (Utorrent,Vuze,BitTorrent). For our project, we decide to look at the BitTorrent protocol more closely by constructing the network and simulate the mechanism in OPNET.

References:
[1] E. Elghoneimy, "ENSC 835 - Spring 2006," [Online]. Available: http://www.sfu.ca/~eelghone/ [Accessed: Feb. 10. 2009].
[2] K. Eger, "Simulation of BitTorrent Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Networks in ns-2," [Online]. Available: http://www.tu-harburg.de/et6/research/bittorrentsim/index.html [Accessed: Feb. 10, 2009].
[3] E. Chen and C. Ng, "Comparative Analysis of Wireless Routing Algorithms in ns-2," [Online]. Available: http://www.ensc.sfu.ca/~ljilja/ENSC835/Spring06/Projects/chen_ng/Report.pdf [Accessed: Feb 10, 2009].
[4] N. Liogkas, R. Nelson, E. Kohler, and L. Zhang, "Exploiting BitTorrent For Fun (But Not Profit)," [Online]. Available: http://iptps06.cs.ucsb.edu/papers/Liogkas-BitTorrent06.pdf [Accessed: Feb 11, 2009].
[5] L. Xu, K. Harfoush, and I. Rheel, "Binary Increase Congestion Control for Fast, Long Distance Networks," [Online]. Available: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~rhee/export/bitcp.pdf [Accesed: Feb 11, 2009].

Wi-Fi Network Simulation

Presentation slides, demo slides, and final report (PDF files).

Abstract:
Wi-Fi as a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance becomes the most common used wireless technology today. Wi-Fi has 4 standards 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n. All Wi-Fi standards are backward compatible. Why people are so crazy on Wi-Fi, because it's fast, convenient and "everywhere". In this project, we are going to simulate the environment of the SFU wireless usage in order to get a clear statistic of wireless traffic in our life every day.

References:
1. Explained Wifi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wifi
2. Detail explained Wifi technology http://www.tcil-india.com/new/new_site/white%20paper/TCIL%2010%20WiFi%20Technology.ppt
3. A book from library: Broadband wireless access and local networks Lee, Byeong Gi (2008) Broadband wireless access and local networks : mobile WiMax and Wifi, Boston,Mass; London :Artech House
4. Simulation Wifi by using JAVA http://wiki.uni.lu/secan-lab/802.11+Network+Simulator.html
5. A tutorial for simulation wireless network on OPNET http://www.opnet.com/solutions/network_rd/modeler_wireless.html#
6. A flash simulation to explain the detail of Wi-Fi http://tintillier.org/wifi/index.html

Analysis on P2SP Technology Over Network Using OPNET

Presentation slides, demo slides, and final report (PDF files).

Abstract:
In present, P2SP (Peer-to-peer and servers) technology is very popular among Asian countries due to its much faster downloading rate than regular P2P (Peer-to-peer). Different from regular P2P data sharing technology, P2SP not only supports transferring data among clients, but also effectively collects the data from independent servers. Our project will model P2SP data sharing method and analyze different aspects of this technology, including potential burden on the servers and the network.

References:
[1] Dale, Cameron. - Investigating and improving BitTorrent's piece and neighbor selection algorithms
[2] Stefan Saroiu, P. Krishna Gummadi, Steven D. Gribble - A Measurement Study of Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Systems
[3] Yang - Measuring the Performance and Reliability of Routing in Peer to Peer Systems
[4] Duc A. Tran - A Peer-to-Peer Architecture for Media Streaming
[5] Leuf, Bo - Peer to peer: collaboration and sharing over the Internet

WiMAX

Presentation slides (not available) and final report (PDF files).

Abstract:
WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a technology based on IEEE 802.16 standard. This technology provides a wireless symmetric broadband speed of a maximum of 75 Mega bits per second. As an example, one of the main possible applications for WiMAX is that it can potentially replace the T1 wire lines of the Service Providers with fixed access points. This can be a cost-effective solution in addition to being an easy to install and maintenance alternative.

Since WiMAX is currently one of the most famous and in-demand technologies in the market and it is growing even more rapidly than before, we have decided to choose a topic and pick one or more aspects of WiMAX to simulate and analyze over OPNET simulation package. OPNET is capable of configuration of WiMAX in the network model, and also WiMAX parameters needed for simulation. As an alternative, we can also do a simulation and analysis on the WiMAX performance in wireless metropolitan area networks.

References:
[1] IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) standard for local and metropolitan area networks. Part 16: Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems
[2] WiMAX Wikipedia Article
[3] WiMAX How Stuff Works article
[4] David Johnston and Hassan Yaghoobi, Intel Corp. Peering Into the WiMAX Spec, 2004
[5] A Comparative Analysis of Mobile WiMAX? Deployment Alternatives in the Access Network, WiMAX Forum

Video Streaming Over WiMAX Technology

Presentation slides, demo slides, and final report (PDF files).

Abstract:
The aim of this project is to simulate bandwidth intensive, delay sensitive video traffic representation of video streaming by using WiMAX which is also known as WirelessMAN and more formally as IEEE 802.16. WiMAX is a set of wireless standards designed to provide high-speed Internet access to a wide range of devices such as laptops, cell phones, cameras, music players, etc. which are being used by clients over the ?last mile?. It has become a lone frontrunner in broadband access compared to other technologies such as Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Lines and T1 lines in terms of cost and complexity. For effective multimedia streaming across the network, we hope to use compression standards such as MPEG-2 or MPEG-4. Furthermore, we hope to examine specific results such as throughput, packet loss and packet delay of a subscriber station over a WiMAX access network.

As Opnet is an industry adopted commercial-based network modeling tool with support for WiMAX, we will use Opnet in this project for simulation purposes.

References:
[1] Z. Abichar, P. Yanlin, and J.M. Chang, "WiMax: The Emergence of Wireless Broadband", IT professional, vol. 8, issue 4, pp. 44-48, July-Aug. 2006.
[2] M. Chatterje, S. Sengupta, and S. Ganguly, "Feedback-based real-time streaming over WiMax", IEEE Wireless Communications, pp. 64 - 71, Feb. 2007.
[3] W. Hrudey, "Streaming Video Content Over IEEE 802.16 / WiMAX Broadband Access", pp. 7-8, April 2008.
[4] "WiMAX", retrieved 12th February 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX
[5] S. Ahson, and M. Ilyas (editors), WiMAX Handbook, published by Boca Raton, Fla. London: CRC Press, 2008.
[6] F. Retnasothie, M. Ozdemir, T. Yucek, H. Celebi, J. Zhang, and R. Muththaiah, Wireless IPTV over WiMAX: Challenges and Applications, Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference, WAMICON, pp. 1-5, Dec. 2006.
[7] Opnet Technologies 14.0, "Creating a Wireless Network", retrieved 7th March 2009 from Opnet Tutorials.
[8] "Image resolution", retrieved 6th March 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_resolution
[9] Y. Wang, J. Ostermann, Y. Zhang, "Video processing and communications", Prentice-Hall, pp 446-454, 2002.

Comparision Between Gnutella and BitTorrent Peer to Peer Protocols Using OPNET

Presentation slides, and final report (PDF files).

Abstract:
Two popular types of peer to peer (p2p) protocols are BitTorrent and Gnutella, both are scalable p2p networks that allows the many nodes to share vase amounts of files at very low cost, as no central server is required. Despite the similarities, there are subtle but important differences that affect the performance and usability of both networks. Gnutella is used mainly through a desktop client such as Limewire or Kazaa. The client for Gnutella allows the user to search and download all in the same window, whereas Bitorrent requires user to download a torrent that contains information about the file to be downloaded, and then download the actual file in a desktop client. Gnutella generally downloads smaller files in a completely decentralized p2p network, whereas BitTorrent downloads larger files and requires a centralized tracker to find the sources. In addition, Gnutella links the target in a single file, whereas Torrent files target more than one files, or one file in smaller pieces. Furthermore, Gnutella hashes the file using Tiger Tree Hashing, whereas Torrent uses SHA1 hashes of pieces of the file. In this project, OPNET simulator is used to model both the Gnutella and BitTorrent protocols. Test will be done by arbitrarily failing some nodes on both networks. The connectivity of both networks will then be measured, as well as the response time of both networks in light and heavy traffic. Then the data showing robustness and Scalability of both networks will be shown and compared in a report.

References:
[1] Wiki. (2008). BitTorrent. Retrieved February 06, 2009, from http://wiki.limewire.org/index.php?title=User_Guide_Bittoren
[2] Eman, E. (2006). Scalability and Robustness of the Gnutella protocol. Retrieved February 06, 2009, from http://www.sfu.ca/~eelghone/
[3] Kelvin, T. (2008). Examination of Routing Algorithms in Distributed Hash Tables (DHTs) for Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Network. Retrieved February 13, 2009, from http://www.sfu.ca/~kta18/ENSC835ProjectReport.pdf
[4] Klingberg, T. (2002). Gnutella 0.6. Retrieved February 13, 2009, from http://rfc-gnutella.sourceforge.net/src/rfc-0_6-draft.html
[5] Cap¡¯n Bry¡¯s gnutella search: Gnutella protocol. (n.d). Retrieved February 13, 2009 from http://capnbry.net/gnutella/protocol.php
[6] Stephanie, W. (n.d). How Kazaa Works. Retrieved February 13, 2009, from http://computer.howstuffworks.com/kazaa3.htm