Multilink solutions in heterogeneous networks for increased capacity and robustness

• Results from the Celtic project MARCH 2007-2011 “Multilink architecture for multiplay services (MARCH)”

• Main objective

Significantly lower the cost of converged broadband service delivery by establishing scalable multilink network architectures

• Presentation outline

1.Main results in the area of multilink economics, technology and network architecture

2.Multilink demonstration

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Terje Tjelta, Telenor, and Viktor S W Eide, Lividi

URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

Acknowledgement

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URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

Celtic project MARCH International partners

MARCH Norwegian participants

MARCH received funding from

Project coordinator, and contributor to all project parts

Multilink network architecture and live demonstrations

Business and economics

Research for Telenor on multilink network efficiency

What is multilink?

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Multilink access allows simultaneous traffic for one single application or several applications over two or more networks or links, such as mobile plus hot-spot, either offloading entire application flows or split and merge flows

or

BenefitsBenefits • increased

throughput • increased reliability • improved service

continuity • higher network

resources utilisation

URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

Three main results

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2. Multilink network techniques and architectures

3. Multilink network demonstrated

1. Broadband access market and economics

URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

Broadband access market trends

• Smart phones and other terminals keep pushing technical limits

• Mobile data traffic doubles quickly, may be a year or so

• The result is an explosive exponential traffic growth

• Operators must invest in higher capacity networks, or use pricing to keep the growth at a manageable level

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2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016Year

Tra

ffic

Western Europe busy hour traffic Mobile data 16 times higher in 2015 compared to 2009 Relative to larger fixed data the ratio reduces to 6 in 2015 compared to 19 in 2009

URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

Business case: operator providing broadband access over 3G and Wi-FI access

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Business case assumptions

Customers with multilink terminals use multilink transparently controlled by the operator

Increased revenue due to more customers (2-5%) in the same network

Invests in gateway and terminal software

Population of 5 000 000 and a mobile terminal penetration of 90%.

20% of the terminals can support more than one network interface in Year 0, with an increase of 5-20% the first years.

This business case shows a positive cash flow already in year 1.

URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

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Multilink connectivity modes Concurrent use of multiple links

App App

ML User Equipment

MLA MPG

MPG

(Multipath Gateway)

Service Flow

Splitting / Merging

Service flow split/merge

MLA

App

App

App

App

App

Multi TCP connections

URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

MLA

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Multilink connectivity modes Concurrent use of multiple links

App

Non-3GPP access

3GPP access

App

App

App

App

IP flow mobility (3GPP Rel. 10)

App PDN-GW

(MLG)

App

3GPP

MNO

Core

• Seamless WLAN offload

• IP flow mobility between 3GPP and WLAN (DSMIPv6)

• Interactions with the Policy Control and ANDSF frameworks

URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

ML throughput gain

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0,00

2,00

4,00

6,00

8,00

10,00

12,00

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Mu

ltil

ink g

ain

(%

)

Average requested rate per user [Mbit/s]

3G BS

Approx. number of arrivals per mn: 4

Holding time per user: μ= 3mn, =2mn

Rate per user : μ=1 – 10 Mb/s, =1Mb/s

Wi-Fi AP

Approx. number of arrivals per mn: 1

Holding time per user: μ= 15mn, =1mn

Rate per user : μ=5 Mb/s, =1Mb/s

URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

linkst independen twothroughput

linkst independen twothroughput-mode dcoordinate throughputgaint throughpuML

Average results from a large number of simulations:

Multipath gateway and over-the-top services • Business opportunities, e.g., offered by a multilink service

provider (ML-SP / Broker)

o Live event video distribution; Surveillance video

Multiple markets; From large broadcasters to “prosumers”

o Higher resolution video streaming

o Person-to-person communication, video-conferencing

• Mobile network operator may offer assured service quality to ML-SP

o GSMA OneAPI

o Multilink as a part of mobile broadband offerings

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ML User Equipment

ML Adaptor (MLA)

OS IP stack

Application

Link/Phy

MARCH Middleware

Multipath GW Content Server

MPG Function

Mapping the e2e IP

stream onto IP tunnels OS IP stack

Link/Phy

Application

OS Socket API

with link specific nw

address

Virtual Socket API

NIC NIC NIC

Multipath Gateway Architecture

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URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

IP in IP-tunnels

Intermediate solution

Multilink demonstration:

• Robust and resilient video conference over multiple access networks (2011)

o Multilink using available 3G and Wi-Fi networks

o Demonstration shown by Lividi

• Live video from ichthyosaur excavations at Svalbard (2010)

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URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

Real-time adaptive multilink streaming for video conference and remote operations

Application requirements

• Low delay

o Limited buffering

o No retransmission

• Some of the data is more important that other, e.g.:

o Good audio more important than good video

o In scalable video (H.264/SVC) base-layer is more important than extension layer

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Setup of multilink streaming demonstrator

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Access networks

Internet

Ethernet

Wi-Fi

3G

3G

Ethernet

URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

7/2/2009

The Lividi remote training product launched early 2012

• The proof-of-concept phase has finished and no showstoppers have been identified

• A pilot project was conducted in 2011

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Verdikt 2012, Gardermoen

URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

Live video 24/7 of ichthyosaur excavations in August 2010 using ML resilient network at Svalbard

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URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/

MARCH results in summary

• Explorative project on broadband access market and economics, and multilink techniques and architectures

• Broadband access market forecast until 2015

• Multilink business scenarios show positive return after 2-3 years

• Analyses of and forecasts for consumer market spending on content and communication services

• Research on multilink techniques covers both access and core network layers

• Reference and application oriented multilink network architecture developed

• Multilink solutions demonstrated

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URL: http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/MARCH/march/