QoS Management by Means of ApplicationControl

Abstract

The complexity and sophistication of integrated broadband networks call for a broad repertoire of management methods. Foreseen intensive competition of the communications market, and the upgrade of end-customer's satisfaction as the focal point of any management policy, raise a very important problem: how to utilize efficiently the resources of the network while maintaining the Quality of Service (QoS) provided to end-users within a pre-negotiated range. In this paper, a QoS management architecture for multimedia applications based on an application control scheme is proposed. Adhering to the Total Quality Management (TQM) paradigm, we let management span over the entire communication stack, the entire network (end-to-end) and the entire call duration. Application control scheme aims to meet pre-specified QoS goals by adjusting the traffic produced by the end-user applications. The adjustment technique is based on the notion that each multimedia session is allowed to operate on a set of discrete application quality levels. A method for monitoring and assessing the end-user perceived quality is presented. The mathematical problem of optimal resources allocation and an associated heuristic are specified. Finally, a specific instantiation of the introduced QoS management architecture on a real testbed is described and experimentation results are presented and evaluated.