MULTI-MEDIA NETWORK-LAYER PROTOCOLS TO SUPPORT METEOR BURST (MB) AND OTHER COMMUNICATION MEDIA

THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES THE RESEARCH NEEDED TO DESIGN A UNIFIED ACCESS INTERFACE THAT FACILITATES ACCESS TO METEOR BURST, HIGH FREQUENCY, AND LIGHTSAT CHANNELS. IT ALSO PROPOSES THE USE OF AN ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSFER MODE (ATM) CELL-BASE ARCHITECTURE TO PROVIDE MULTIMEDIA SERVICES USING THESE CHANNELS. THE MODULAR DESIGN OF THE UNIFIED INTERFACE STEMS FROM THE FACT THAT USER SERVICE PROFILES ARE CAREFULLY MAPPED TO THE BEARER CAPABILITIES OF THE PROPOSED COMMUNICATIONS CHANNELS. IN THIS PROPOSAL, WE SHALL DESIGN A UNIFIED ACCESS INTERFACE, ATM PROTOTCOL, SPECIFY USER MULTIMEDIA SERVICE PROFILES, A HIERARCHICAL NETWORK PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK FOR ROUTING AND CONGESTION CONTROL AND PERFORM ANALYSIS USING REAL TIME SIMULATION. THE KEY ASPECTS OF THE RESEARCH INCLUDE THE DEVELOPMENT OF "DETECTION OF CHANNEL FADING" AND "DYNAMIC SWITCHING OF THE CHANNEL DURING A SESSION". ANTICIPATED BENEFITS: THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROPOSED IN THIS PROPOSAL WILL PROVIDE DARPA WITH THE NETWORK-LAYER PROTOCOLS REQUIRED TO TRANSMIT MULTIMEDIA INFORMATION OVER FADING CHANNELS. IT IS EXPECTED THAT THESE RESULTS WILL YIELD MAJOR MILITARY AND INDUSTRIAL BENEFITS