Adaptive Bandwidth Service (ABS)

The purpose of this proposal is to research the feasibility of and describe the architecture for an Adaptive Bandwidth Service. The Adaptive Bandwidth Service (ABS) is an application level, network-monitoring and adaptation service envisioned for deployment in the NCES framework that facilitates network awareness on the part of heterogeneous applications. Use of this service is intended to provide a means for applications to adjust dynamically to fluctuating network conditions, increasing or decreasing bandwidth usage as the current network status dictates. This provides the dual benefit of enhancing the overall health of the network, while at the same time giving the application a means to "gracefully degrade" in the face of a challenging network environment.