Support for Distributed Real-Time Multimedia Application in Mobile Wireless Networks

As part of the DARPA GloMo program, BBN has developed a modular system, MMWN, of link-layer and network-layer mechanisms to provide the communications services required to support real-time, distributed multimedia applications in large, mobile wireless networks.

Key features of the MMWN system include:

• Adaptive link control for stabilizing the quality of wireless links.
• Hierarchical, self-organizing network architecture for scalability.
• Localized location tracking for mobility transparency.
• Multi-level quality-of-service routes for sessions with specific service requirements.
• Dynamic multipoint virtual circuits for sessions requiring resource reservations in a mobile environment.
• Service handoffs for enabling clients to access servers, when both clients and servers may be mobile.

The MMWN system has been designed to be implemented as a set of separable modules which may be combined in different ways for situation-specific use but which are intended to work together as a whole. It has been simulated using UCLA's Maisie, simulation package and is currently being implemented in a mobile radio testbed using Rooftop's C++ Protocol Toolkit. A detailed description of the algorithms that compose the MMWN system is available in Postscript form.