TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Information Systems, Sensors, Battlespace

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: II, III, IV; PEOs C4I, Space and IWS; PMWs 160, 150, 790, 760, SPAWAR 056

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation.

OBJECTIVE: While MANET promises to significantly increase the available Navy bandwidth, existing MANET throughput decreases exponentially as the number of hops increases (hops > 4). This research will enable: 1) a multimedia stream to hop over hundreds of nodes without quality degradation and 2) hundreds of multimedia steams to cross a single node without quality degradation; 3) an advance in the state-of-the art videoconferencing and legacy application virtualization.
Develop an end-to-end software solution (based on low-cost commodity hardware) that allows a multimedia stream (voice-over-internet-protocol [VoIP], videoconferencing, screen/application sharing, file transfer, and biological/chemical sensor data) to hop over a large number of nodes without quality degradation as defined by psychological human factor quality-of-service (QoS) requirements.

DESCRIPTION: Existing MANET solutions have difficulty delivering a multimedia stream over a large number of hops. This research will develop novel software solutions to maintain high throughput and low latency for multimedia delivery over a large number of hops. The solution should: allow >1 Mbps and <500 msec of delay over 100 hops and be able to handle the cross-stream interference from multiple steams flowing over a particular node; and allow low-bandwidth videoconferencing for multiple sites (>100); exploit the difference in human factor requirements for QoS for different multimedia (audio vs. video, vs. sensor data, etc) to optimize the streaming of different media types; use advanced compression and networking techniques to achieve a significant reduction (10X) in bandwidth compared to existing commercial solutions; advance in the state-of-the art videoconferencing and legacy application virtualization; adapt to a variety of networks (available bandwidth, packet loss rate and jitter); support FIPS 140-2 256 bit AES encryption; record the training sessions; and be able to run as a web-service or as a stand-alone program on segmented/closed/MANET networks.

PHASE I: Review existing approaches and invent new algorithms specifically for the Navy low-bandwidth environment. Conduct simulation of proposed algorithms and compare to existing approaches. Measure throughput, delay, and multimedia QoS degradation as a function of the number of hops and number of streams. Measure audio, video, and screen sharing fidelity at different network bandwidths and topologies. Verify that the system can automatically adapt to different network streaming topologies and achieve theoretically efficient path discovery. Conduct paper-based user studies on the effectiveness of the proposed user interface. Based on measurements, predict the expected limits of the solution.

PHASE II: Develop a prototype of the proposed solution. The prototype will run on commodity laptops and hand-held PDAs and should not require specialized modifications or dedicated hardware. Measure the scalability of the system as a function of available bandwidth, network topology, number of participants and effectiveness of the user interface. Measure the time required to learn how to use the system; the frequency of user confusion and the smoothness of user experience.

PHASE III: Deploy the prototype in a field trial of at least 100 nodes to validate the solution. Measure throughput, delay, and multimedia QoS degration as a function of number of hops and streams. Test the systems effectiveness in application sharing by having the Navy provide a list of legacy, single-user applications to be integrated into a Common Operational Picture (COP).

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS:
If this SBIR can demonstrate that high throughput and low latency multi-hop MANET multimedia streaming is possible, it would solve a parallel need in the business and education communities. It could provide networks to developing countries (e.g. in Africa) where infrastructure-based networks is not cost-effective. The resulting network could deliver distance education, just-in-time remote training and telemedicine. The capability is critical to First Responders in hastily formed networks, where the Internet is not available due to natural or man-made disasters. The system could play an important role in government. In the event of a natural or man-made disaster in the Nation�s Capital, it might be necessary for Congress to meet virtually. The capability would allow Congress members to meet from their home office to carry out their duties.

REFERENCES:
1. Holland, G. and Vaidya, N. 1999. Analysis of TCP performance over mobile ad hoc networks. In Proceedings of the 5th Annual ACM/IEEE international Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (Seattle, Washington, United States, August 15 - 19, 1999). MobiCom '99. ACM Press, New York, NY, 219-230.

2. Chow, C. and Ishii, H. 2007. Enhancing real-time video streaming over mobile ad hoc networks using multipoint-to-point communication. Comput. Commun. 30, 8 (Jun. 2007), 1754-1764

3. Bikram S. Bakshi , P. Krishna , N. H. Vaidya , D. K. Pradhan, Improving Performance of TCP over Wireless Networks, Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS '97), p.365, May 27-30, 1997

4. Josh Broch , David A. Maltz , David B. Johnson , Yih-Chun Hu , Jorjeta Jetcheva, A performance comparison of multi-hop wireless ad hoc network routing protocols, Proceedings of the 4th annual ACM/IEEE international conference on Mobile computing and networking, p.85-97, October 25-30, 1998, Dallas, Texas, United States

5. A. Watson and A. Sasse. Evaluating Audio and Video Quality in Low-cost Multimedia Conferencing Systems. Interacting with Computers, pages 255-275, 1996.

6. W. Buxton, A. Sellen, and M. Sheasby. Interfaces for Multiparty Videoconferences. Video-Mediated Communication (edited by K. Finn, A. Sellen, and S. Wilbur), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pages 385-400, 1997.

7. P. Dourish and S. Bly. Portholes: Supporting Awareness in a Distributed Work Group. Proceedings of Conference on Human Factors and Computing Systems, pages 541-547, 1992.

8. R. Malpani and L.Rowe. Floor Control for Large-Scale Mbone Seminars. Proceedings of ACM Multimedia, pages 155-163, 1997

9. A. Anderson, A. Newlands, J. Mulin, A. Fleming, G. Doherty-Sneddon, and J. Velden. Impact of Video-Mediated Communication on Simulated Service Encounters. Interacting with Computers, pages 193-206, 1996.

10. J. Bransford, A. Brown, and R. Cocking. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School. National Academy Press, 2000.

11. J. Gibbons, W. Kincheloe, and K. Down. Tutored Videotape Instruction: a New Use of Electronics Media in Education. Science, pages 1139-1146, 1977.

12. R. Ochsman and A. Chapanis. The Effects of 10 Communication Modes on the Behavior of Teams During Co-operative Problem-Solving. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, pages 579-619, 1974.

13. L. Rowe. ACM Multimedia Tutorial on Distance Learning, 2000.

KEYWORDS: MANET; multi-hop; display interface; low bandwidth compression; multimedia QoS; videoconferencing

TPOC: Jeff Besser
Phone: (858)537-0122
Fax:
Email: [email protected]

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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