A bandwidth advisor for wireless networks

Abstract

Many network intensive applications can benefit substantially from reasonable estimates of future available bandwidth. As a simple example, consider a user, John, that is about to board a flight that is leaving shortly. Using his palmtop equipped with the Aura ubiquitous computing system, John has just finished editing some very large documents that he needs to email over the airport's wireless network. Just before he begins transmission, a 747 begins deplaning passengers at a gate adjacent to where John is waiting; these deplaning passengers are heavily loading the network in John's cell. John's Aura client contacts the bandwidth advisor and learns that there is insufficient bandwidth for John to complete his transmission before his plane leaves. Fortunately, Aura learns from the bandwidth advisor that a nearby cell has ample bandwidth which enables John to move into that cell briefly and complete his transmission before catching his plane.The utility of bandwidth advisors has lead to efforts such as Remos and the Network Weather Service which have investigated providing bandwidth advice in wired network settings. This research builds on this previous work by developing a bandwidth advisor that is specifically tuned for wireless networks, and is suited to the needs of mobile applications.