NMSL - User contributions [en-ca]

Network and Multimedia Systems Lab (NMSL)

2008-02-27T05:20:27Z

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Private:tethering-ideas

2011-01-27T02:06:24Z

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Until recently, the cellular dataplans in the North America were mostly unlimited. However, since late 2010, AT&T started implementing tiered dataplans: a subscriber gets 200 MB for $15/month, 2 GB for @25/month, and so on. With the increasingly popularity of smartphones (and thus the tremendous amount of data traffic), we expect to see other cellular service providers moving away from unlimited dataplans. Under the new contracts, many subscribers can easily be charged an arm and a leg if they go above the limits. Meanwhile, some other subscribers may underutilize their quotas, which is another format of overpaying the cellular service providers.

To address this issue, we propose to capitalize the WiFI interfaces found on most modern smartphones to allow cellular subscribers reselling their un-used dataplan quotas. That is, the smartphones in proximity form an WiFi ad hoc network, which allow them to carry Internet traffic for each other. A micro billing platform is implemented to facilitate reselling un-used dataplan quotas among subscribers. The proposed platform covers several business use cases. First, subscribers who do not have enough dataplan quotas can purchase them from other subscribers at lower rate. Second, subscribers who have un-used quotas can sell them. Third, subscribers who need higher cellular bandwidth, e.g., for downloading a large file, can purchase the additional bandwidth on-demand from neighboring subscribers.

As a starting point, we are implementing an Android app to facility such collaboration using WiFi ad hoc mode. Later, we will implement servers on Linux to realize the micro-billing mechanisms.

An early todo list has been identified.
Todo (updates are welcome):
# Survey on multi-hop tethering on smartphones
# Survey on micro-billing mechanisms
# System architecture (without considering security issues)
# Initial analysis on security concerns

A list of done tasks are given below.
Done (updates are welcome):
# None for now.

== Mathieu's Notes ==
According to my readings, I think we should focus on using WAN (EDGE/3G) for sharing connections, as it seems to be more energy-efficient than WiFi, especially when transfering at high bit rates. It was proven in Sharma et al. that transfering data at a low or high bitrate doesn't cost that much more in terms of energy consumption. However, as opposed to Sharma et al., I would say that we should use only mobile devices, and nothing else. The idea of a proxy to gather data sounds appealing, as it allows to send data in stronger bursts in order to save energy, but this does give enough flexibility. For example, if one is going up Burnaby Mountain, they might want to share their data plan with some of the bus passengers, and if the bus is crowded, no one will be using a laptop!

Can a user connect to many "providers"? Or only one?

Currently, it seems that phones give priority to sending/receiving data from WiFi and then using WAN. It would be very important to find a way to simulate a WiFi connection for someone connecting to someone else's data plan, so they are not using theirs.

Security- and privacy-wise, the data provider (the person selling their data plan) should not be allowed to sniff any packets coming in and out of their phone to a customer. From a technical point of view, this might not be possible.

== Cheng's Notes ==

===1/25/2011===

After briefly checking the literature, I feel while several enabling mechanisms, such as neighbor discovery and ad hoc routing, have been well studied. There exists no complete system that allows subscribers (potentially with different cellular service providers) to share their dataplan quotas. The closest work I see is the Shair paper from T-Labs published in HotMobile'09 (see below for the paper title). That paper has three weaknesses: (i) it's designed for voice calls, which are more vulnerable to device mobility compared to packet data, (ii) it uses short-range BT, which is again more vulnerable to mobility, and (iii) they did not have a real implementation. Hence, I see a room for us to make good systems contributions.

I propose we start from a workshop paper and a demo abstract. I suggest the following venues.
* NOSSDAV or IWQoS (6-page ACM template), due in late Feb. Tentative tile: Reselling your unused cellular dataplan quotas. We might need to tweak the motivation a bit (to include some multimedia flavors), if we want to sell it to NOSSDAV community.
* SIGCOOM demo session (2-page ACM template), due on May 12. Here, we present a real Android implementation.

I have also prepared a few more detailed todo list for Mathieu. Feel free to drop me emails anytime if you are not sure what I'm talking about. Thanks!

# Create a folder on svn and start putting up a technical report
# (Sec. 2 Related Work) Survey existing proposals that can serve as building blocks of our systems, classifying them into a few categories, such as: device discovery, WiFi ad-hoc routing, billing mechanism, and energy saving. Finally, say, Shair (HotMobile'09) is the work that is closest to our work, but (i) it's designed for voice call, (ii) it uses short-range BT, and (iii) they don't have a complete implementation.
# (Sec. 1 Introduction): Search for some numbers (remember to include citations)
#* Prices of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon's dataplans, including charging rates beyond the dataplans' caps.
#* Youtube (and other multimedia apps) usage pattern: (i) How much data an average user consumes. This is to motivate the needs for some users to buy quotas from our system rather than the service providers. (ii) Also average bitrates of different Youtube content. This is motivate the video quality improvement users may perceived after using our system.
#*Put these number into 2 paragraphs as motivation.
# Setup WiFi adhoc network among Android phones using library, e.g., http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/ .

== Links and References ==

* A. Sharma, V. Navda, R. Ramjee, V. Padmanabhan, and E. Belding. ''Cool-Tether: energy efficient on-the-fly wifi hot-spots using mobile phones.'' In Proc. of international conference on Emerging networking experiments and technologies (CoNEXT '09).
* E. Jung, Y. Wang, I. Prilepov, F. Maker, X. Liu, and V. Akella. "User-profile-driven collaborative bandwidth sharing on mobile phones." In Proc. of ACM Workshop on Mobile Cloud Computing Services: Social Networks and Beyond (MCS '10).
* P. Hui, R. Mortier, K. Xu, J. Crowcroft, and V. Li. "Sharing airtime with Shair avoids wasting time and money." In Proc. of workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications (HotMobile '09).

==Meeting Minutes==

===01/26/2011===

* Mathieu has created a project folder in subversion server and started working on the related work and motivation.
* Mathieu and Cheng discussed two main risk items. First, Android does not support WiFi ad hoc mode. Cheng is searching for the workarounds for Android Developer Phone 2 (Google Ion). Mathieu will also get familiar with the problem. Second, the decision of disabling WiFi ad hoc support is most likely a business one. So, we believe that we will need to clarify the business model that will benefit both cellular service providers and subscribers, and potentially a 3rd party company providing quota trading service.
* Cheng explained the next challenging items: (i) device discovery and (ii) ad hoc routing protocol. Mathieu will survey related work in the literature.

====Action Items====
* Cheng needs to test the WiFi ad hoc hack on Ion phone. We then need to decide whether it's worth to purchase a few Ion phones for the experiments (or we better go with more recent phones).
* Cheng needs to provide Mathieu some hints on WiFi discovery and routing protocols. Mathieu needs to survey them.

Private:tethering-ideas

2011-01-27T02:06:12Z

MediaWiki default:

Until recently, the cellular dataplans in the North America were mostly unlimited. However, since late 2010, AT&T started implementing tiered dataplans: a subscriber gets 200 MB for $15/month, 2 GB for @25/month, and so on. With the increasingly popularity of smartphones (and thus the tremendous amount of data traffic), we expect to see other cellular service providers moving away from unlimited dataplans. Under the new contracts, many subscribers can easily be charged an arm and a leg if they go above the limits. Meanwhile, some other subscribers may underutilize their quotas, which is another format of overpaying the cellular service providers.

To address this issue, we propose to capitalize the WiFI interfaces found on most modern smartphones to allow cellular subscribers reselling their un-used dataplan quotas. That is, the smartphones in proximity form an WiFi ad hoc network, which allow them to carry Internet traffic for each other. A micro billing platform is implemented to facilitate reselling un-used dataplan quotas among subscribers. The proposed platform covers several business use cases. First, subscribers who do not have enough dataplan quotas can purchase them from other subscribers at lower rate. Second, subscribers who have un-used quotas can sell them. Third, subscribers who need higher cellular bandwidth, e.g., for downloading a large file, can purchase the additional bandwidth on-demand from neighboring subscribers.

As a starting point, we are implementing an Android app to facility such collaboration using WiFi ad hoc mode. Later, we will implement servers on Linux to realize the micro-billing mechanisms.

An early todo list has been identified.
Todo (updates are welcome):
# Survey on multi-hop tethering on smartphones
# Survey on micro-billing mechanisms
# System architecture (without considering security issues)
# Initial analysis on security concerns

A list of done tasks are given below.
Done (updates are welcome):
# None for now.

== Mathieu's Notes ==
According to my readings, I think we should focus on using WAN (EDGE/3G) for sharing connections, as it seems to be more energy-efficient than WiFi, especially when transfering at high bit rates. It was proven in Sharma et al. that transfering data at a low or high bitrate doesn't cost that much more in terms of energy consumption. However, as opposed to Sharma et al., I would say that we should use only mobile devices, and nothing else. The idea of a proxy to gather data sounds appealing, as it allows to send data in stronger bursts in order to save energy, but this does give enough flexibility. For example, if one is going up Burnaby Mountain, they might want to share their data plan with some of the bus passengers, and if the bus is crowded, no one will be using a laptop!

Can a user connect to many "providers"? Or only one?

Currently, it seems that phones give priority to sending/receiving data from WiFi and then using WAN. It would be very important to find a way to simulate a WiFi connection for someone connecting to someone else's data plan, so they are not using theirs.

Security- and privacy-wise, the data provider (the person selling their data plan) should not be allowed to sniff any packets coming in and out of their phone to a customer. From a technical point of view, this might not be possible.

== Cheng's Notes ==

===1/25/2011===

After briefly checking the literature, I feel while several enabling mechanisms, such as neighbor discovery and ad hoc routing, have been well studied. There exists no complete system that allows subscribers (potentially with different cellular service providers) to share their dataplan quotas. The closest work I see is the Shair paper from T-Labs published in HotMobile'09 (see below for the paper title). That paper has three weaknesses: (i) it's designed for voice calls, which are more vulnerable to device mobility compared to packet data, (ii) it uses short-range BT, which is again more vulnerable to mobility, and (iii) they did not have a real implementation. Hence, I see a room for us to make good systems contributions.

I propose we start from a workshop paper and a demo abstract. I suggest the following venues.
* NOSSDAV or IWQoS (6-page ACM template), due in late Feb. Tentative tile: Reselling your unused cellular dataplan quotas. We might need to tweak the motivation a bit (to include some multimedia flavors), if we want to sell it to NOSSDAV community.
* SIGCOOM demo session (2-page ACM template), due on May 12. Here, we present a real Android implementation.

I have also prepared a few more detailed todo list for Mathieu. Feel free to drop me emails anytime if you are not sure what I'm talking about. Thanks!

# Create a folder on svn and start putting up a technical report
# (Sec. 2 Related Work) Survey existing proposals that can serve as building blocks of our systems, classifying them into a few categories, such as: device discovery, WiFi ad-hoc routing, billing mechanism, and energy saving. Finally, say, Shair (HotMobile'09) is the work that is closest to our work, but (i) it's designed for voice call, (ii) it uses short-range BT, and (iii) they don't have a complete implementation.
# (Sec. 1 Introduction): Search for some numbers (remember to include citations)
#* Prices of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon's dataplans, including charging rates beyond the dataplans' caps.
#* Youtube (and other multimedia apps) usage pattern: (i) How much data an average user consumes. This is to motivate the needs for some users to buy quotas from our system rather than the service providers. (ii) Also average bitrates of different Youtube content. This is motivate the video quality improvement users may perceived after using our system.
#*Put these number into 2 paragraphs as motivation.
# Setup WiFi adhoc network among Android phones using library, e.g., http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/ .

== Links and References ==

* A. Sharma, V. Navda, R. Ramjee, V. Padmanabhan, and E. Belding. ''Cool-Tether: energy efficient on-the-fly wifi hot-spots using mobile phones.'' In Proc. of international conference on Emerging networking experiments and technologies (CoNEXT '09).
* E. Jung, Y. Wang, I. Prilepov, F. Maker, X. Liu, and V. Akella. "User-profile-driven collaborative bandwidth sharing on mobile phones." In Proc. of ACM Workshop on Mobile Cloud Computing Services: Social Networks and Beyond (MCS '10).
* P. Hui, R. Mortier, K. Xu, J. Crowcroft, and V. Li. "Sharing airtime with Shair avoids wasting time and money." In Proc. of workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications (HotMobile '09).

==Meeting Minutes==

===01/26/2011===

* Mathieu has created a project folder in subversion server and started working on the related work and motivation.
* Mathieu and Cheng discussed two main risk items. First, Android does not support WiFi ad hoc mode. Cheng is searching for the workarounds for Android Developer Phone 2 (Google Ion). Mathieu will also get familiar with the problem. Second, the decision of disabling WiFi ad hoc support is most likely a business one. So, we believe that we will need to clarify the business model that will benefit both cellular service providers and subscribers, and potentially a 3rd party company providing quota trading service.
* Cheng explained the next challenging items: (i) device discovery and (ii) ad hoc routing protocol. Mathieu will survey related work in the literature.

====Action Items===
* Cheng needs to test the WiFi ad hoc hack on Ion phone. We then need to decide whether it's worth to purchase a few Ion phones for the experiments (or we better go with more recent phones).
* Cheng needs to provide Mathieu some hints on WiFi discovery and routing protocols. Mathieu needs to survey them.

Private:tethering-ideas

2011-01-25T18:45:33Z

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Private:tethering-ideas

2011-01-25T02:03:32Z

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Private:tethering-ideas

2011-01-24T23:27:28Z

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Private:tethering-ideas

2011-01-21T19:34:48Z

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Private:tethering-ideas

2011-01-21T19:34:13Z

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Private:tethering-ideas

2011-01-21T19:31:25Z

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Private:mobileTV

2010-04-09T22:28:19Z

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'''Mobile TV Networks'''

Mobile TV allows users to watch their favorite TV shows and games on small hand-held devices while
traveling. It, therefore, extends the Prime Time viewing of users and provides more business opportunities
for content providers. The market for mobile TV is huge: it is expected to grow to up to 20 billion Euros
with 500 million customers by 2011[http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/451&format=PDF]. In fact, mobile TV has already been deployed in parts of Europe and Asia and in pilot-testing in several locations in North and South Americas [http://www.dvb-h.org/ (official DVB-H site)]. This rapid adoption is fueled by the desire of users for multimedia content and by the technological advances in wireless mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart cellular phones, and mobile media players. Many of these devices have evolved to almost full-fledged mobile computers with high resolution displays, fast network links, large memory and storage space, and fast processors. Therefore, multimedia content can be rendered on most of these mobile devices, which further stimulates the user demands for more content and better quality.

We consider various quality-of-service metrics and propose efficient algorithms
to maximize them in mobile TV networks. The considered metrics include: energy
saving, channel switching delay, and network utilization. For mobile TV users,
energy saving and channel switching delay are the two most important metrics.
This is because higher energy saving results in longer watch time, and longer
channel switching delay degrades view experience as many users quickly flip
through numerous TV channels before they decide to watch the specific ones.
For mobile TV network operators, network utilization is the most important
issue, because wireless spectrum is very expensive: often costs multi-million
dollars. We have proposed several algorithms to: (i) maximize energy saving
on mobile devices, (ii) guarantee the switching delay from a TV channel to any
other channel is short, and (iii) maximize the number of channels concurrently
broadcast within a given wireless spectrum. We analytically analyze the
proposed algorithms and conduct extensive simulations to evaluate their
performance. Most importantly, we have also implemented a [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm08demo_abstract.pdf real mobile TV testbed] in
our Lab, which provides us a realistic platform for analyzing the performance
of the proposed broadcast schemes. The mobile TV testbed has two parts: a
commodity Linux box as the base station and several smart phones as receivers.
Our simulation and experimental results indicate that the proposed broadcast
schemes are: (i) optimal/near-optimal, (ii) efficient and scalable, and (iii)
practical for real mobile TV networks.

== People ==

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/ Mohamed Hefeeda]

* [http://www.sfu.ca/~cha16/ ChengHsin Hsu (PhD student)]

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~yliu1/ Yi Liu (MSc student)]

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~cly/ Cong Ly (MSc student)]

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~hsadeghi/ Hamed Sadeghi Neshat (MSc student)]

* [Farid Molazem (MSc student)]

== Publications ==

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/ton09_abr.pdf Broadcasting Video Streams Encoded with Arbitrary Bit Rates in Energy-Constrained Mobile TV Networks], IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Accepted August 2009.

* M. Hefeeda and C. Hsu, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/ton09_burst.pdf On Burst Transmission Scheduling in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks], IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Accepted July 2009.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm09.pdf On Statistical Multiplexing of Variable-Bit-Rate Video Streams in Mobile Systems], In Proc. of ACM Multimedia 2009, Beijing, China, October 2009. Acceptance: 18%.

* Y. Liu, C. Hsu, and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm09-short.pdf On the Benefits of Cooperative Video Broadcast over WMANs and WLANs], In Proc. of ACM Multimedia 2009, short paper, Beijing, China, October 2009. Acceptance: 30%.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/pv09b.pdf Multi-Layer Video Broadcasting with Low Channel Switching Delays], In Proc. of IEEE International Packet Video Workshop (PV'09), Seattle, WA, May 2009.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/networking09.pdf Video Broadcasting to Heterogeneous Mobile Devices], In Proc. of IFIP Networking 2009, Aachen, Germany, May 2009. Published in Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Computer Science, LNCS 5550, pp. 600--613, 2009. Acceptance: 20%

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/infocom09.pdf Time Slicing in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks with Arbitrary Channel Bit Rates], In Proc. of IEEE INFOCOM 2009, pp. 2231--2239, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 2009. Acceptance: 20%

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mmcn09.pdf Bounding Switching Delay in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks], In Proc. of ACM/SPIE Multimedia Computing and Networking Conference (MMCN'09), San Jose, CA, January 2009.

* M. Hefeeda, C. Hsu, and Y. Liu, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm08demo_abstract.pdf Testbed and Experiments for Mobile TV (DVB-H) Networks], ACM Multimedia'08 Technical Demonstration, Vancouver, Canada, October 2008. [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm08DemoAward.pdf Best Demo Award]

* M. Hefeeda and C. Hsu, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/innovations08.pdf Energy Optimization in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks], In Proc. of IEEE International Conference on Innovations in Information Technology (Innovations'08), pp. 430--434, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, December 2008. Best Paper Award.

== Press Coverage ==

* July 1, 2009: Our mobile TV research is also featured in the July issue of the ACM Tech News: [http://technews.acm.org/archives.cfm?fo=2009-07-jul/jul-01-2009.html#418148 see article] or [[media:acmnews09.pdf| local PDF]]

* June 26, 2009: Our mobile TV project is featured on CTV News: [http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090625/bc_mobile_tv_090625/ see article] or [[media:ctv09.pdf | local PDF]]

* June 15, 2009: Omni-TV featured Cheng and our mobile TV project (in Mandarin): [[media:omni09.mpg | local mpeg file]]

* June 4, 2009: The mobile TV project is in World Journal News (in Mandarin): [http://van.worldjournal.com/printer_friendly/2667437# see article] or [[media:worldjournal09.pdf | local PDF]]

* May 28, 2009: The mobile TV project is in SFU News: [http://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/news/story_05290909.shtml see article] or [[media:sfunews09.pdf | local PDF]]

== Mobile TV (DVB-H) Testbed ==

We have implemented a complete end-to-end testbed for [http://www.dvb-h.org/ DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast--Handheld)] networks. The testbed provides a realistic platform for analyzing
various aspects of these networks, including the energy saving
achieved by the time slicing mechanism, average channel switching
delay, network capacity in terms of number of TV channels that
can be broadcast, visual quality of TV channels transmitting different
types of video streams, information exchange and interactivity
between base station and receivers, among many others.
The details of testbeds and pilot networks created by companies are
usually not published, and the source code is not available. Thus
academic researchers designing algorithms and protocols for mobile
TV networks, including ourselves, had to resort to simulation
and/or theoretical analysis. To address this problem, we make the
details and source code of our testbed available to the research community.

The main components of our mobile TV testbed are shown in the following figure.

[[Image:MobileTV2.jpg|center|685px|Mobile TV Testbed]]

''' Base Station.''' The base station is a Linux box (Intel Quad-Core Xeon E5420 (2.5 GHz) PC running Ubuntu Linux) in which we installed the RF signal modulator: Dektec DTA-110T DVB-T/H Modulator and UHF Upconverter for PCI Bus.
This modulator implements the physical layer of the protocol stack and transmits
DVB-H standard compliant signals via an indoor antenna. The RF
output level of the modulator, however, is quite low (-29 dBm)
and can only reach up to 1-meter broadcast range with a 6 dB receiver
antenna. Using a low-power amplifier, the RF signal can be
boosted to about 0 dBm, which gives us approximately 20-meter
range in our lab environment.

IP packets of the video streams are encapsulated in MPEs and FEC-coded using
an IP Encapsulator. In the initial setup, we adopt an
[http://amuse.ftw.at/downloads/encapsulator open-source IP Encapsulator], which
implements simple time slicing techniques. We extended that IP encapsulator to
support more sophisticated and optimal time slicing schemes. Recently, we have re-designed
the base station software to be well-structured
with defined interfaces in order to facilitate implementing and comparing
different current/future algorithms, including multimedia streaming and time slicing algorithms.
This new base station design follows multi-threaded paradigm, and can fully utilize
multi-processor systems, which is common nowadays. We continue improving
the base station implementation.

'''Receivers.''' We use the Nokia N92 and N96 device as receivers. These
devices are equipped with the receiver-side of the DVB-H protocol
and video player. The operating system on this device (Symbian)
provides several APIs, including APIs for measuring energy consumption.
While the N92 device helps in assessing the visual quality
of videos, it does not provide detailed logging functions of the
low-level signals, which are needed to evaluate the performance
of different protocols. To address this shortcoming, we added the
Divi Catch RF-T/H transport stream analyzer to the testbed. This analyzer
can be attached to a PC via a USB port. The analyzer records traffic
streams as well as provides a very detailed information on the RF
signal, the MPEs, jitter, time slicing, and so on. It also comes with
a visualization software that can run on the PC for analysis.

=== Running Testbed ===
Running the test bed:
For running the testbed, we have two ways:
1-Using Graphic user interface
2-Using Linux commands
In following sections, those two ways have been explained:

Using Graphic user interface

Step 1: open internet browser (Firefox or IE)

Step 2: in the address bar, type

Step 3: select video file for some channels.

Step 4: click on Start Broadcast for broadcasting

 Each green circle, shows the service whose name is written beside the circle is working

 By this way, you can only see signals in Divicatch software, you should be able to watch the video by VLC player as well, but this service doesn’t work now. It means you can’t watch video with neither N96 nor N92.

Using Linux commands

Step1: Login to 142.58.185.186 with user name: nsladmin and password: nsladmin

Step2: load the modulator card driver by:

/DVB-H$ sudo Dta1xxInit start
[sudo] password for nsladmin:

This can be skipped if the driver has already been loaded after the last reboot.
If you want to demo the video stream on Nokia N96 cell phone. Please do the following:

Step3: cd /home/nsladmin/demo/N96

Step4: ./runN96.sh

Now you are able to watch the TV program on N96 cell phone. In the mean time, you can track and trace the DVB-H stream on our DiviCatch USB analyzer with the frequency set to 690MHz

If you want to demo the video stream on Nokia N92 cell phone. Please do the following:

Step3: cd /home/nsladmin/demo/N92

Step4: ./runN92.sh

Now you are able to watch the TV program on N92 cell phone. In the mean time, you can track and trace the DVB-H stream on our DiviCatch USB analyzer with the frequency set to 562MHz

Running analyzer

Step 1: Run DiviCatch 5.0 from the strart menu.

Step 2: in RF-T/H tab, set RF Frequency to proper value, for example if you used the instruction for N96 demo, you should set frequency to 690.000.

Step 3: Press Tune button.

Step 4: Now you are able to see broadcasted data in other tabs.

== Software ==

We have two testbed implementations: (i) FATCAPS base station, and (ii) integrated base station. The former one is based on FATCAPS implementation, while the later one is implemented by us from scratch.

=== FATCAPS Based Implementation ===

We initially implemented our testbed on top of FATCAPS, which is an open source time slicer implementation. Several documents are listed in the following.

* [[mobile_tv_testbed_software| Testcases abstracted in early 2008 ]]
* [[Time slicing in DVB-H | Setting up a base station using FATCAPS]]
* [[PSI_SI_DVB-H | Overview of PSI/SI]]
* [[ESG_DVB-H | Overview of Electronic Service Guide (ESG)]]
* [[FLUTE_DVB-H | Overview of FLUTE/ALC protocol]]
* [[Nokia S60 Platform battery monitor tool | Juice: an energy profiling tool ]]
* We have collected several MPEG-2 TS stream traces. These streams are compatible with recent Nokia handsets, such as N96. (We thank Abertis Telecom for providing us some of these traces. )
*# [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/traces/nokia/n96.ts Nokia stream #1]
*# [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/traces/nokia/nokia_ts.ts Nokia stream #2]
*# [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/traces/nokia/dvbh-tdt.ts Nokia stream #3]
* [[Private: implementing esg | Implementing ESG]]

=== MTV Implementation ===

We have implemented the software of DVB-H base stations called ''mtv''. We continue improving the base station implementation, and we list ongoing/future works in [[MobileTV Todo | this document]].

== Discussion and Ideas ==

* [[Private: mobile_tv_meeting_minutes | Meeting Minutes (login required)]]

* [[Private:mobile_streaming_ideas|Underinvestigated ideas of streaming to mobile devices (login required)]]

* [[Private:mediaflo|Research Ideas Related to MediaFLO (login required)]]

== References and Links ==

* Q. Gao, M. Chari, A. Chen, F. Ling, and K. Walker, "[[media:GCCLK09.pdf|MediaFLO Technology: FLO Air Interface Overview]]": This book chapter explains why mediaFLO achieves short channel switching delay. MediaFLO employs 1-sec superframe and each MLC is transmitted as four bursts in every superframe. Therefore, when user switches the channel in superframe x, the receiver will get all the four bursts in superframe x+1, which takes 1 to 2 secs, where 1 is the best case and 2 is the worst case. This article also indicates that the time-frequency assignment need not be rectangle, which allows finer grained resource allocation and thus better statistical multiplexing gain. However, this paper does not address the relationship between energy saving and time-freq allocation. There is only one sentence saying that the receiving circuit should avoid modulating the symbols irrelevant to the current channel to save energy.

* M. Chari, F. Ling, A. Mantravadi, R. Krishnamoorthi, R. Vijayan, G. Walker, and R. Chandhok, “FLO physical layer: An overview,” IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 145–160, March 2007.

* [http://www.mediaflo.com/mediaflo/index.html Media FLO Technology]

* [http://www.openmobilevideo.com/about-mobile-dtv/standards/ ATSC Mobile DTV]

* [http://www.dvb-h.org/ The official Mobile TV website maintained by the DVB Project Office.]

* [http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/WING-TV/ Wing-TV Project:] Docs to test and to verify in detail the DVB-H specification.

* J. Wang, M. Venkatachalam, and Y. Fang, [http://www.fang.ece.ufl.edu/mypaper/jsac07wang.pdf System Architecture and Cross-Layer Optimization of Video Broadcast over WiMAX], IEEE JSAC 25(4), pp. 712--721, MAY 2007. (Check this special issue of JSAC as well.)

* G. Gardikis, G. Xilouris, C. Skianis, [http://www.springerlink.com/content/a32p21815h46n12q/ Broadband multimedia on the move with DVB-H], Multimedia Tools and Applications, 36(1-2), January 2008. (DVB-H tutorial in inter-active mode.)

* [http://limbos.wiki.sourceforge.net/ LIMBOS LInux setup for accessing Mobile Broadcasting through Online Streaming]

Private:Random

2009-12-13T23:14:57Z

MediaWiki default:

== Energy-Aware DVD Playback on Laptop Computers ==
Consider a user is watch a recorded video program using a laptop in an environment where external power is not available, e.g., in a long-distance flight. Given that the laptop is battery-powered, it may provide watch times shorter than the video programs, such as a two-hour movie. It will be frustrating if the user figures out that he/she cannot watch the complete movie only at the time the battery dies. Current technology to address this issue is quite limited: often a battery level indicator is provided by operating systems, which is often inaccurate. More importantly, it reveals no information about whether the residue energy is enough to playout the rest of the movie or not. Furthermore, even if it can provide such information, and unfortunately the energy residue is to low to complete the video program, the user cannot watch the video program. Therefore, we believe there is a need for an energy-aware video player, which enables users to watch the complete video program at the highest video quality the current battery level can support.

== Transport Protocol for Asymmetric Communication ==

[Cheng 12/13/2009] Unfortunately, the number of bits need to be sent by a client is no less than the binary entropy of the symbol distribution (following Shannon's theorem). Adler and Maggs' protocol assumes that the server knows the symbol distribution, and shows how the server can help the client (who doesn't know the distribution) to efficiently transmit the data. Their protocol does not lead to fewer number of bits transmitted by the client, compared to the common scenario where the client knows the symbol distribution. Therefore, this protocol (as well as several other extensions based on it) does not reduce the upstream bandwidth requirement. On the other hand, while Gagie's protocol does not rely on the assumption that the server has the symbol distribution, it does not result in better performance (in terms of number of bits sent by clients), when there is a single client/sender in the data transmission. That is, it has to leverage on correlations among data sent by multiple clients to achieve better compression ratio. In summary, existing protocols are only applicable in very few scenarios/applications. I believe the only practically useful scenario is solving bandwidth asymmetry in P2P networks. And even in that application, it's not clear whether it's worth to deploy servers to *help* peers utilize their upstream bandwidths. (Why not using the resources to send the content directly?)

Communication channels with asymmetric uplink/downlink bandwidths are very common nowadays. Popular residential access technologies, such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), often divide available bandwidth in an asymmetric manner, where the downlink bandwidth is much higher. Other systems may employ two uni-directional communication channels, where the downlink channel has much higher bandwidth. For example, in rural area, network systems may employ satellites or TV-broadcasts for downlink traffic and use analog modems for uplink traffic. While this asymmetry is arguably desirable in server-client applications, it is not ideal for peer-to-peer applications. This is because a ''client'' may exhaust it uplink bandwidth without utilizing its downlink bandwidth, which gets simply wasted.

One nature question is: Can we allocate the, otherwise idling, downlink bandwidth for uplink usage, so that the uplink bandwidth is increased? In 2001, from information theory aspect, Adler and Maggs [[media:AM01.pdf]] showed that using a properly-designed protocol, the downlink bandwidth can be used to accelerate the upload speed. Notice that, they did not propose an actual ''network'' protocol that can be used in the wild. Instead, they strived to ''prove'' the feasibility of dynamically reallocating bandwidths. Other works in the literature have also reveal the upper bound of the potential improvement on upstream bandwidth. See [[media:Gagie06.pdf]] for a brief survey and references.

To our best knowledge, there has been no practical protocol in the literature, which supports dynamic bandwidth reallocation. Using such a protocol can increase the bandwidth utilization of the residential (last-mile) links. It is even more useful in rural area, such as deserts, where uplink bandwidth is limited by the infrastructure and likely to be extremely low. Hence, designing and implementing a transport protocol for asymmetric communication, ideally a TCP drop-in, has potential to benefit a large number of Internet users all over the world.

Private:Random

2009-12-13T23:14:24Z

MediaWiki default:

== Energy-Aware DVD Playback on Laptop Computers ==
Consider a user is watch a recorded video program using a laptop in an environment where external power is not available, e.g., in a long-distance flight. Given that the laptop is battery-powered, it may provide watch times shorter than the video programs, such as a two-hour movie. It will be frustrating if the user figures out that he/she cannot watch the complete movie only at the time the battery dies. Current technology to address this issue is quite limited: often a battery level indicator is provided by operating systems, which is often inaccurate. More importantly, it reveals no information about whether the residue energy is enough to playout the rest of the movie or not. Furthermore, even if it can provide such information, and unfortunately the energy residue is to low to complete the video program, the user cannot watch the video program. Therefore, we believe there is a need for an energy-aware video player, which enables users to watch the complete video program at the highest video quality the current battery level can support.

== Transport Protocol for Asymmetric Communication ==

[Cheng 11/13/2009] Unfortunately, the number of bits need to be sent by a client is no less than the binary entropy of the symbol distribution (following Shannon's theorem). Adler and Maggs' protocol assumes that the server knows the symbol distribution, and shows how the server can help the client (who doesn't know the distribution) to efficiently transmit the data. Their protocol does not lead to fewer number of bits transmitted by the client, compared to the common scenario where the client knows the symbol distribution. Therefore, this protocol (as well as several other extensions based on it) does not reduce the upstream bandwidth requirement. On the other hand, while Gagie's protocol does not rely on the assumption that the server has the symbol distribution, it does not result in better performance (in terms of number of bits sent by clients), when there is a single client/sender in the data transmission. That is, it has to leverage on correlations among data sent by multiple clients to achieve better compression ratio. In summary, existing protocols are only applicable in very few scenarios/applications. I believe the only practically useful scenario is solving bandwidth asymmetry in P2P networks. And even in that application, it's not clear whether it's worth to deploy servers to *help* peers utilize their upstream bandwidths. (Why not using the resources to send the content directly?)

Communication channels with asymmetric uplink/downlink bandwidths are very common nowadays. Popular residential access technologies, such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), often divide available bandwidth in an asymmetric manner, where the downlink bandwidth is much higher. Other systems may employ two uni-directional communication channels, where the downlink channel has much higher bandwidth. For example, in rural area, network systems may employ satellites or TV-broadcasts for downlink traffic and use analog modems for uplink traffic. While this asymmetry is arguably desirable in server-client applications, it is not ideal for peer-to-peer applications. This is because a ''client'' may exhaust it uplink bandwidth without utilizing its downlink bandwidth, which gets simply wasted.

One nature question is: Can we allocate the, otherwise idling, downlink bandwidth for uplink usage, so that the uplink bandwidth is increased? In 2001, from information theory aspect, Adler and Maggs [[media:AM01.pdf]] showed that using a properly-designed protocol, the downlink bandwidth can be used to accelerate the upload speed. Notice that, they did not propose an actual ''network'' protocol that can be used in the wild. Instead, they strived to ''prove'' the feasibility of dynamically reallocating bandwidths. Other works in the literature have also reveal the upper bound of the potential improvement on upstream bandwidth. See [[media:Gagie06.pdf]] for a brief survey and references.

To our best knowledge, there has been no practical protocol in the literature, which supports dynamic bandwidth reallocation. Using such a protocol can increase the bandwidth utilization of the residential (last-mile) links. It is even more useful in rural area, such as deserts, where uplink bandwidth is limited by the infrastructure and likely to be extremely low. Hence, designing and implementing a transport protocol for asymmetric communication, ideally a TCP drop-in, has potential to benefit a large number of Internet users all over the world.

File:newMtvArch.tgz

2009-11-21T18:36:41Z

MediaWiki default:

VS:software

2009-11-21T18:36:32Z

MediaWiki default:

Software Design and Repository. [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/wiki/index.php/VS:Mobile_Video Back to Main Page]

Links to our software design documents and to subver code. List by products and by core components.

= Prototypes =

* [[media:newMtvArch.tgz | This]] is the codebase of a new mobile TV implementation. Several class has ben done following the mobile TV design document written in November 2009. To use this tar file, please untar it under the DVB-H/src directory of the open-source repository. Then, the source code, header file, and make file can be found under newArch/ directory.

= Core Components =

*

= Product 1 =

*

VS:software

2009-11-21T18:36:15Z

MediaWiki default:

Software Design and Repository. [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/wiki/index.php/VS:Mobile_Video Back to Main Page]

Links to our software design documents and to subver code. List by products and by core components.

= Prototypes =

* [[VS:media:newMtvArch.tgz | This]] is the codebase of a new mobile TV implementation. Several class has ben done following the mobile TV design document written in November 2009. To use this tar file, please untar it under the DVB-H/src directory of the open-source repository. Then, the source code, header file, and make file can be found under newArch/ directory.

= Core Components =

*

= Product 1 =

*

VS:software

2009-11-21T18:33:45Z

MediaWiki default:

Software Design and Repository. [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/wiki/index.php/VS:Mobile_Video Back to Main Page]

Links to our software design documents and to subver code. List by products and by core components.

= Prototypes =

* [[media:VS:newMtvArch.tgz | This]] is the codebase of a new mobile TV implementation. Several class has ben done following the mobile TV design document written in November 2009. To use this tar file, please untar it under the DVB-H/src directory of the open-source repository. Then, the source code, header file, and make file can be found under newArch/ directory.

= Core Components =

*

= Product 1 =

*

VS:software

2009-11-21T18:33:33Z

MediaWiki default:

Software Design and Repository. [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/wiki/index.php/VS:Mobile_Video Back to Main Page]

Links to our software design documents and to subver code. List by products and by core components.

= Prototypes =

* [[image:VS:newMtvArch.tgz | This]] is the codebase of a new mobile TV implementation. Several class has ben done following the mobile TV design document written in November 2009. To use this tar file, please untar it under the DVB-H/src directory of the open-source repository. Then, the source code, header file, and make file can be found under newArch/ directory.

= Core Components =

*

= Product 1 =

*

File:VS-newMtvArch.tgz

2009-11-21T18:31:40Z

MediaWiki default:

VS:software

2009-11-21T18:31:28Z

MediaWiki default:

Software Design and Repository. [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/wiki/index.php/VS:Mobile_Video Back to Main Page]

Links to our software design documents and to subver code. List by products and by core components.

= Prototypes =

* [[media:VS:newMtvArch.tgz | This]] is the codebase of a new mobile TV implementation. Several class has ben done following the mobile TV design document written in November 2009. To use this tar file, please untar it under the DVB-H/src directory of the open-source repository. Then, the source code, header file, and make file can be found under newArch/ directory.

= Core Components =

*

= Product 1 =

*

pCDN:Installation

2009-11-20T21:18:25Z

MediaWiki default:

= Client =
pCDN client is a light-weight software running on your computer, which services requests from podcast clients by exchanging podcast files among users. Installing pCDN client is simple. Please follow these steps:
* Download and install the latest pCDN client software.
* Install a podcast client. A list of available clients can be found [http://www.podcastingnews.com/topics/Podcast_Software.html here].
* Locate the pCDN client on your list of programs (for instance, find the software from Start Menu -> Programs on Windows) and run it. The software display a taskbar icon in the notification area. Right click on it allows you to enter Session Info windows and Preferences editor.
* Run the podcast client and use this podcast feed: http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/tmp/qpodcast.xml.
* Upon successful feed, you should see a list of available podcasts.
* Choose one of the podcasts from the list. Your podcast client should start fetching the selected file.
* To check what podcasts are being downloaded (uploaded) to or from other peers, please double click on the taskbar icon.

== Note ==
* pCDN client attempts to automatically detect your IPs. For computers with multiple IPs, pCDN client chooses the first IP by default. This generally works fine if your first IP is connected to the Internet. Please use the Preference window to specify your preferred IP if otherwise.
* If a software-based firewall is running, please either disable it or add pCDN client to the list of allowed programs. For Windows firewall, you can add pCDN client to the list of allowed programs by going to: Control Panel ->Security Center -> Windows Firewall -> Exceptions. Make sure you tick the check box after adding pCDN client.

= Server =
pCDN server runs on a Windows machine, and uses a SQL database as its backend for content info, geo-fencing rules, and admin account management. After installing our server software, the administrator has to set up the SQL database first. Please find the readme.txt file in the $INSTALL_DIR/Database-info directory for instructions on database setup. The instructions were developed for MySQL server, but can be easily ported to other database systems. In addition, the administrator needs to customize the $INSTALL_DIR/settings.ini file, which contains a few critical settings:
* ''DATABASE_DSN'' specifies the ODBC driver, server location, database name, username, password, and other options.
* ''SQUID_INTERVAL'' specifies the frequency of log rotation on squid-like log files.
* ''SQUID_MAX_LOGS'' specifies the number of history squid-like log files should be kept.
* ''BACKUP_TRACKERS'' specifies the list of replicated pCDN servers, where servers with smaller indexes have higher precedence of being the primary (active) server. Notice that:
** Please include all tracker IPs here (backup may not be a perfect term here)
** All pCDN server should share the same list.
** The same list should be published as a Web page, such as http://nsl-win.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/pCDN/trackerlist.txt, for clients. Note that, in client's conf.xml file, the trackerlist_url should point to this file.
** We are working on a centralized (shared) setting.ini implementation. This feature is scheduled for the next release (Ver 2).
Once the $INSTALL_DIR/settings.ini is updated, the server can start servicing pCDN clients.

VS:products

2009-11-17T20:06:05Z

MediaWiki default:

Our Potential Products. [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/wiki/index.php/VS:Mobile_Video Back to Main Page]

We need to provide short, medium, and long term products. For each product, we need to estimate its complexity (time to market), potential customers, competing products, our edges, links to our software design, hardware, etc.

= Short Term 0.5 - 2 Years =

== Product S1: Micro Mobile TV Base Station for Unlicensed Use ==

Our first product is a low-cost workstation that allows small-scale deployment using unlicensed spectrum. Potential customers include universities, companies, communities, museums, and zoos, which want to efficiently (in terms of costs) deliver video streams to users within small geographical areas. For example, museums and zoos can provide visually-enhanced guided tours using our base stations without huge capital investments such as licensing a spectrum. In addition, customers may receive the programs using their own cellular phones.

This product is similar to our MM08 mobile TV testbed. Additional enhancements include: (i) mechanisms to query white space database, (ii) hardware to sense co-channel interference (need to check the FCC standards), and (iii) integration with some mobile TV capable devices, i.e., implementing a client program. Using a 5MHz channel within a short broadcast range, our base station can transmit 40 QVGA programs, where each program has a coding rate of 512 kbps. Concurrently reading and encapsulating 40 programs should be feasible to recent quad-core CPUs and multi-Gigabit disks.

We are not aware of any base stations that supports broadcasting over white space channels yet.

== Product S2: VideoCast User Generated Content over Mobile TV Networks ==

While YouTube has been very successful on PC users, it is less popular on mobile devices for two reasons. First, mobile devices have low-speed wireless links. For example, existing HSDPA networks have a theoretical maximum bandwidth of 14 Mbps, which is shared among ''all'' users in the same cell. Second, mobile devices have small screens, which make browsing and searching for clips difficult. Effectively searching videos is important for user generated databases like YouTube due to the large number (millions) of videos in them.

We design a VideoCast platform to address the above two issues, and broadcast the ''most demanded'' videos to the ''most users''. This platform consists of a VideoCast server that schedule the videos for broadcasting, and a VideoCast client running on mobile devices. More precisely, the client collects user preference from individual users. The user preference may contains regular expression patterns of video names and description, videos uploaded by certain users, some video channels, and even video tags. To support a large number of users, the client reports user preferences ''infrequently'', in the order of hours. In addition to preference, each client may inform the server its status such as reception quality, battery level, and storage space. Client status messages are short, and thus can be sent more frequently. Nevertheless, the client should implement some throttling algorithm to avoid overloading the VideoCast server.

The VideoCast server uses the user preference and client status to compute the broadcast schedule in order to maximize the user experience. At a high-level, a video clips that appears at the top of the user preference lists for more active users, it should be scheduled earlier than less demanded videos. Since each video is sent to many mobile users, the VideoCast platform is bandwidth-efficient. Moreover, the VideoCast server will send the most demanded videos based on a user preference configured off-line, which saves users a lot of time on browsing and selecting videos using small screens of mobile devices.

= Medium Term 2 - 5 Years =

== Product M1: ==

*

== Product M2: ==

*

= Long Term 5+ Years =

== Product L1: ==

*

== Product L2: ==

VS:products

2009-11-17T17:29:05Z

MediaWiki default:

Our Potential Products. [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/wiki/index.php/VS:Mobile_Video Back to Main Page]

We need to provide short, medium, and long term products. For each product, we need to estimate its complexity (time to market), potential customers, competing products, our edges, links to our software design, hardware, etc.

= Short Term 0.5 - 2 Years =

== Product S1: Micro Mobile TV Base Station for Unlicensed Use ==

Our first product is a low-cost workstation that allows small-scale deployment using unlicensed spectrum. Potential customers include universities, companies, communities, museums, and zoos, which want to efficiently (in terms of costs) deliver video streams to users within small geographical areas. For example, museums and zoos can provide visually-enhanced guided tours using our base stations without huge capital investments such as licensing a spectrum. In addition, customers may receive the programs using their own cellular phones.

This product is similar to our MM08 mobile TV testbed. Additional enhancements include: (i) mechanisms to query white space database, (ii) hardware to sense co-channel interference (need to check the FCC standards), and (iii) integration with some mobile TV capable devices, i.e., implementing a client program. Using a 5MHz channel within a short broadcast range, our base station can transmit 40 QVGA programs, where each program has a coding rate of 512 kbps. Concurrently reading and encapsulating 40 programs should be feasible to recent quad-core CPUs and multi-Gigabit disks.

We are not aware of any base stations that supports broadcasting over white space channels yet.

== Product S2: VideoCast User Generated Content over Mobile TV Networks ==

While YouTube has been very successful on PC users, it is less popular on mobile devices for two reasons. First, mobile devices have low-speed wireless links. For example, existing HSDPA networks have a theoretical maximum bandwidth of 14 Mbps, which is shared among ''all'' users in the same cell. Second, mobile devices have small screens, which make browsing and searching for clips difficult. Effectively searching videos is important for user generated databases like YouTube due to the large number (millions) of videos in them.

We design a VideoCast platform to address the above two issues, and broadcast the ''most demanded'' videos to the ''most users'. This platform consists of a VideoCast server that schedule the videos for broadcasting, and a VideoCast client running on mobile devices. More precisely, the client collects user preference from individual users. The user preference may contains regular expression patterns of video names and description, videos uploaded by certain users, some video channels, and even video tags. To support a large number of users, the client reports user preferences ''infrequently'', in the order of hours. In addition to preference, each client may inform the server its status such as reception quality, battery level, and storage space. Client status messages are short, and thus can be sent more frequently. Nevertheless, the client should implement some throttling algorithm to avoid overloading the VideoCast server.

The VideoCast server uses the user preference and client status to compute the broadcast schedule in order to maximize the user experience. At a high-level, a video clips that appears at the top of the user preference lists for more active users, it should be scheduled earlier than less demanded videos. Since each video is sent to many mobile users, the VideoCast platform is bandwidth-efficient. Moreover, the VideoCast server will send the most demanded videos based on a user preference configured off-line, which saves users a lot of time on browsing and selecting videos using small screens of mobile devices.

= Medium Term 2 - 5 Years =

== Product M1: ==

*

== Product M2: ==

*

= Long Term 5+ Years =

== Product L1: ==

*

== Product L2: ==

VS:products

2009-11-17T15:52:16Z

MediaWiki default:

VS:products

2009-11-17T15:25:13Z

MediaWiki default:

VS:products

2009-11-17T15:21:14Z

MediaWiki default:

VS:products

2009-11-17T15:20:36Z

MediaWiki default:

VS:legal

2009-11-17T14:58:37Z

MediaWiki default:

Legal Documents and Policies. [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/wiki/index.php/VS:Mobile_Video Back to Main Page]

== SFU Policies and Rules ==

* [http://www.sfu.ca/policies/research/r30-03.htm Intellectual Property Policy] [http://www.sfu.ca/policies/files/Research_Policies/30_Series/R30-03.pdf PDF]

== Provincial Rules ==

*

== Canadian Rules ==

*

== US Rules ==

* [http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/decdoc/public_and_broadcasting.html FCC document] explains the broadcast regulations. It also give contacts for further questions on licensing spectrum to provide broadcast radio/TV services.

* As digital TV transmission are more efficient than analog transmission, more ''traditional'' TV bands have been released after the 2009 all-digital transition. This frees up quite a few channels and may allow new broadcast services to be implemented using some ''traditional'' TV bands. More importantly, FCC has recently granted the unlicensed usage of ''free'' TV channels, see [http://www.showmywhitespace.com/ShowMyWhiteSpace/tabid/60/Default.aspx white space] for some information. Their web page allows users to search for white spaces using US street addresses. Some quick tests show that most locations have several vacant channels for unlicensed use, e.g., in a well developed suburban DC area (zip code: 20878), there are three vacant TV channels for unlicensed use. Notice that each analog TV channel has bandwidth of 5 MHz (in some countries, it can be 6 or 7 MHz). This is sufficient for the whole mobile TV service with 30-50 TV channels, because broadcast standards such as DVB-H can operate on 5, 6, or 7 MHz channels. Thus, TV white space allows smaller and local broadcast companies to transmit video or data streams at no licensing fee. The economic value generated by unlicensed bands was studied in a [http://spectrumbridge.com/web/images/whitepapers/whitespaces_valueof_whitepaper-microsoft.pdf Microsoft report].

== International Rules ==

*

VS:legal

2009-11-17T14:57:08Z

MediaWiki default:

Legal Documents and Policies. [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/wiki/index.php/VS:Mobile_Video Back to Main Page]

== SFU Policies and Rules ==

* [http://www.sfu.ca/policies/research/r30-03.htm Intellectual Property Policy] [http://www.sfu.ca/policies/files/Research_Policies/30_Series/R30-03.pdf PDF]

* As digital TV transmission are more efficient than analog transmission, more ''traditional'' TV bands have been released after the 2009 all-digital transition. This frees up quite a few channels and may allow new broadcast services to be implemented using some ''traditional'' TV bands. More importantly, FCC has recently granted the unlicensed usage of ''free'' TV channels, see [http://www.showmywhitespace.com/ShowMyWhiteSpace/tabid/60/Default.aspx white space] for some information. Their web page allows users to search for white spaces using US street addresses. Some quick tests show that most locations have several vacant channels for unlicensed use, e.g., in a well developed suburban DC area (zip code: 20878), there are three vacant TV channels for unlicensed use. Notice that each analog TV channel has bandwidth of 5 MHz (in some countries, it can be 6 or 7 MHz). This is sufficient for the whole mobile TV service with 30-50 TV channels, because broadcast standards such as DVB-H can operate on 5, 6, or 7 MHz channels. Thus, TV white space allows smaller and local broadcast companies to transmit video or data streams at no licensing fee. The economic value generated by unlicensed bands was studied in a [http://spectrumbridge.com/web/images/whitepapers/whitespaces_valueof_whitepaper-microsoft.pdf Microsoft report].

== Provincial Rules ==

*

== Canadian Rules ==

*

== US Rules ==

* [http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/decdoc/public_and_broadcasting.html FCC document] explains the broadcast regulations. It also give contacts for further questions on licensing spectrum to provide broadcast radio/TV services.

== International Rules ==

*

VS:legal

2009-11-17T14:19:54Z

MediaWiki default:

VS:patents

2009-11-17T04:14:51Z

MediaWiki default: New page: List patent ideas and research problems that might lead to patents. [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/wiki/index.php/VS:Mobile_Video Back to Main Page]

List patent ideas and research problems that might lead to patents. [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/wiki/index.php/VS:Mobile_Video Back to Main Page]

VS:Mobile Video

2009-11-17T04:13:02Z

MediaWiki default:

This is the Wiki page for the potential commercialization of our mobile video streaming research.

* '''[[VS:people|People]]'''

* '''[[VS:legal|Legal Documents and Policies]]'''

* '''[[VS:funding|Funding Sources]]'''

* '''[[VS:expenses-revenues|Expenses and Revenues]]'''

* '''[[VS:patents|Potential Patent Ideas]]'''

* '''[[VS:customers-competitors|Potential Customers and Competitors]]'''

* '''[[VS:technical|Technical Documents]]'''

* '''[[VS:software|Software Design and Repository]]'''

* '''[[VS:hardware|Hardware Components and Devices]]'''

* '''[[VS:minutes|Meeting Minutes]]'''

* '''[[VS:links|Miscellaneous Links]]'''

VS:customers-competitors

2009-11-17T04:06:22Z

MediaWiki default:

Our customers and competitors. [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/wiki/index.php/VS:Mobile_Video Back to Main Page]

Provide some comments on customers and competitors, e.g., contact persons, market share, etc.

= Potential Customers =

*

= Competitors =

== Mobile ATSC ==
* [http://www.grassvalley.com/news/2009/20091028-Mobile_Video_ATSC.html Grass Valley] announced a mobile ATSC solution shortly after the standard is approved. The solution is built upon their earlier ATSC base stations, which can be software upgraded. The solution consists of a realtime video coders, called ''ViBE Mobile TV Encoding'', which supports statistical multiplexing, scalable video coding, and ROI (region-of-interest). Each ViBE one-rack-mounted unit concurrently supports 2 CIF or 4 QCIF video. The solution consists of a multiplexer/IP encapsulator, called ''NetProcessor Multiplexing'', which supports the latest mobile ATSC [http://www.atsc.org/communications/press/2009-10-16-ATSC_approves_mobile_dtv.php A/153 standard]. Finally, the solution employs Thomson ATSC DTV transmitters with some hardware updates for modulation, amplification, and transmission.

VS:Mobile Video

2009-11-13T00:42:33Z

MediaWiki default: New page: Mobile Video

Mobile Video

group meeting

2009-11-11T05:39:57Z

MediaWiki default:

We hold regular meetings (mostly bi-weekly) for discussion. In each meeting, a graduate student will present his/her progress on research. This is followed by 15-20 minute discussion. The presenter can also choose a recent paper and present it to the group. The paper must be from the top conferences/journals in our research areas, such as, ACM Multimedia, SIGCOMM, INFOCOM, ICNP, IEEE Transactions on Networking, ACM TOMCCAP, and IEEE Transactions on Multimedia.

The meetings are good opportunities for students to practice their presentation skills and to get constructive feedback from the group on their research. The meetings keep the group members informed about different research problems being addressed in the group. They are also very helpful in finding research topics specially for new students.

Everybody is welcome to attend. Meeting time: 5:00-6:30 PM, room SUR 4040.

== Fall 2009==

* 10 Nov 09: Cheng, [[media:testbed.ppt | Design of a Mobile TV Testbed]]

* 27 October 09: Yuanbin, Segment Scheduling in P2P Streaming Systems

* 13 October 09: Ahmed, [[media:LTE.pdf | Long Term Evolution (LTE) - A Tutorial]]

* 6 October 09: Cheng, Statistical Multiplexing of VBR Video Streams (ACM MM 09 talk)

* 22 September 09: Som, Video Streaming over WiMAX Networks

* 8 September 09: Cong, Minimizing Round-Trip Time in Online Games

== Summer 2009==

* 18 August 09: Mohammad and Cong: 30 min each. Present their Directed Reading projects.

* 14 July 09: Cheng, [[media:wimaxTV.pptx | Broadcasting Variable-Bit-Rate Videos in 802.16e-Like Mobile Networks]]

* 7 July 09: Yi

* 26 June 09: Ahmed

* 5 June 09: Canceled (Mohamed attending NOSSDV'09)

* 29 May 09: Kianoosh, End-to-End Secure Delivery of Scalable Video Streams

* 22 May 09: Cong,

* 8 May 09: Kianoosh, Analysis of Authentication Schemes for Nonscalable Video Streams

== Spring 2009 ==

* 17 Apr 09: [[media:infocom09.pptx|Cheng (practice your infocom presentation)]]

* 27 March 09: Andreas Berger

* 27 Feb 09: Shabnam and Yuanbin

* 23 Jan 09: Cheng (rehearse your PhD proposal) and Kianoosh

File:testbed.ppt

2009-11-11T05:36:26Z

MediaWiki default:

group meeting

2009-11-11T05:34:17Z

MediaWiki default:

We hold regular meetings (mostly bi-weekly) for discussion. In each meeting, a graduate student will present his/her progress on research. This is followed by 15-20 minute discussion. The presenter can also choose a recent paper and present it to the group. The paper must be from the top conferences/Journals in our research areas, such as, ACM Multimedia, SIGCOMM, INFOCOM, ICNP, IEEE Transactions on Networking, ACM TOMCCAP, and IEEE Transactions on Multimedia.

The meetings are good opportunities for students to practice their presentation skills and to get constructive feedback from the group on their research. The meetings keep the group members informed about different research problems being addressed in the group. They are also very helpful in finding research topics specially for new students.

Everybody is welcome to attend. Meeting time: 5:00-6:30 PM, room SUR 4040.

== Fall 2009==

* 10 Nov 09: Cheng, [[media:testbed.ppt | Design of a Mobile TV Testbed]]

* 27 October 09: Yuanbin, Segment Scheduling in P2P Streaming Systems

* 13 October 09: Ahmed, [[media:LTE.pdf | Long Term Evolution (LTE) - A Tutorial]]

* 6 October 09: Cheng, Statistical Multiplexing of VBR Video Streams (ACM MM 09 talk)

* 22 September 09: Som, Video Streaming over WiMAX Networks

* 8 September 09: Cong, Minimizing Round-Trip Time in Online Games

== Summer 2009==

* 18 August 09: Mohammad and Cong: 30 min each. Present their Directed Reading projects.

* 14 July 09: Cheng, [[media:wimaxTV.pptx | Broadcasting Variable-Bit-Rate Videos in 802.16e-Like Mobile Networks]]

* 7 July 09: Yi

* 26 June 09: Ahmed

* 5 June 09: Canceled (Mohamed attending NOSSDV'09)

* 29 May 09: Kianoosh, End-to-End Secure Delivery of Scalable Video Streams

* 22 May 09: Cong,

* 8 May 09: Kianoosh, Analysis of Authentication Schemes for Nonscalable Video Streams

== Spring 2009 ==

* 17 Apr 09: [[media:infocom09.pptx|Cheng (practice your infocom presentation)]]

* 27 March 09: Andreas Berger

* 27 Feb 09: Shabnam and Yuanbin

* 23 Jan 09: Cheng (rehearse your PhD proposal) and Kianoosh

File:geo fencing.doc

2009-11-06T01:12:55Z

MediaWiki default:

pCDN

2009-11-06T01:12:42Z

MediaWiki default:

'''Peer-assisted Content Distribution Network'''

This project employs the peer-to-peer (P2P) computing paradigm in designing large-scale content distribution systems. The P2P paradigm provides: (i) improved scalability by aggregating resource contributions from peers (end user machines) and reducing the reliance on centralized servers, (ii) reduced cost by utilizing already-deployed resources and eliminating the need for expensive infrastructure, and (iii) rapid deployability by performing all processing at the end systems.

Major content distribution networks, such as Akamai, consider the P2P paradigm as a real threat for their content distribution business. This is because the P2P paradigm may achieve similar services with a fraction of the cost. However, there are several research challenges that need to be addressed to enable the P2P paradigm to achieve this potential. In this research, we tackle these research challenges. Our goal is to develop a fully functional and reliable P2P content distribution system, which we call pCDN. Several steps have been made towards that goal. In fact, we already have a beta version of pCDN 1.0.

pCDN will provide high-quality multimedia content, support heterogeneous clients, impose minimal load on the expensive inter-ISP links, provide on-demand as well as live streaming services, ensure data integrity, implement digital rights management, among other features. All features are based on novel algorithms developed by our group. An overview of pCDN and its features can be found in this [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/pCDN07.pdf White Paper.] The white paper also summarizes the main differences between pCDN and common P2P file-sharing systems such as BitTorrent and Gnutella.

pCDN is developed in partnership with the [http://www.cbc.ca Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] (CBC). CBC is the largest Internet content provider in Canada with millions of online users consuming a huge amount of bandwidth, which costs CBC millions of dollars each year. The objective of pCDN is to offset some of these costs while providing better streaming services to clients. pCDN 1.0 is currently in the final testing phases by CBC to be released to the public. Testing is being performed on small Internet streaming services, and the system will gradually evolve to larger-scale important services.

Funding for the pCDN project is provided by a research grant from CRD and RTI grants from [http://www.nserc.ca NSERC], and a few [http://www.mitacs.ca MITACS] Research Internships. We appreciate their support.

== People ==

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/ Mohamed Hefeeda] (Assistant Professor)

* François Conway, (CBC, Senior Director, Technology, Strategy and Planning)

* Bernard Jules (CBC, Senior Project Manager, Internet and New Media Technology)

* [http://www.sfu.ca/~cha16/ ChengHsin Hsu] (PhD student)

* [http://www.sfu.ca/~aah10/ Ahmed Hamza] (PhD student)

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~kma26/personal/ Kianoosh Mokhtarian (MSc Student)]

* Patrick Morin (CBC, Technical Support, Internet and New Media Technology)

* Patrice Charbonneau (CBC, Technical Support, Internet and New Media Technology)

* Vikas Kumar, Graduate (Research Assistant/Software Engineer, May -- July 2008) [[Private:vikas_kumar|Progress Report]]

* Nitin Chiluka (Research Assistant/Software Engineer, December 2007 -- May 2008)

* Pouya Alagheband (NSERC Undergraduate Research Awards, Summer 2007)

* Nicolas Gomez (NSERC Undergraduate Research Awards, Summer 2007)

* Osama Saleh (MSc Student, Graduated Fall 2006)

== On-going Research Problems ==

* [[Private:pCDN:Systems Issues|Systems Issues (Login Required)]]

* [[Private:pCDN:Peer Matching| ISP-Friendly Peer Matching (Login Required)]]

* [[Private:pCDN:NAT|Comprehensive NAT Traversal (Login Required)]]

* [[Private:pCDN:DRM| Digital Rights Management (Login Required)]]

* [[Private:pCDN:networkCoding| Using Network Coding in pCDN (Login Required)]]

== Publications ==

* C. Hsu, N. Chiluka, and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/sigcomm08poster_abstract.pdf ISP-Friendly Peer Matching Algorithms], ACM SIGCOMM'08 Poster, Seattle, WA, August 2008.

* Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/tomccap08_rd.pdf On the Accuracy and Complexity of Rate-Distortion Models for FGS-encoded Video Sequences], ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications, 4(2), Article 15, 22 Pages, May 2008.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/tom08b.pdf Partitioning of Multiple Fine-Grained Scalable Video Sequences Concurrently Streamed to Heterogeneous Clients], IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, 10(3), pp. 457--469, April 2008.

* M. Hefeeda and C. Hsu, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/tomccap08_fgs.pdf Rate-Distortion Optimized Streaming of Fine-Grained Scalable Video Sequences], ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications, 4(1), Article 2, 28 Pages, January 2008.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/tom08.pdf Optimal Coding of Multi-layer and Multi-version Video Streams], IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, 10(1), pp. 121--131, January 2008.

* B. Jules and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/pCDN07.pdf pCDN: Peer-assisted Content Distribution Network], CBC/Radio-Canada Technology Review Magazine, Issue 4, pp. 1--14, July 2007. (Invited, also published in French).

* Y. Tu, J. Sun, M. Hefeeda, Y. Xia, S. Prabhakar, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/tomccap05.pdf An Analytical Study of Peer-to-Peer Media Streaming Systems], ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications, 1(4), pp. 354--376, November 2005.

* M. Hefeeda, A. Habib, D. Xu, B. Bhargava, B. Botev, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mmsj05.pdf CollectCast: A Peer-to-Peer Service for Media Streaming], ACM/Springer Multimedia Systems Journal, 11(1), pp. 68--81, November 2005.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/iwqos07.pdf Structuring Multi-Layer Scalable Streams to Maximize Client-Perceived Quality], In Proc. of IEEE International Workshop on Quality of Service (IWQoS'07), pp. 182--187, Chicago, IL, June 2007.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/nossdav07.pdf Optimal Partitioning of Fine-Grained Scalable Video Streams], In Proc. of ACM International Workshop on Network and Operating Systems Support for Digital Audio & Video (NOSSDAV'07), pp. 63--68, Urbana-Champion, IL, June 2007.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mmcn07.pdf Optimal Bit Allocation for Fine-Grained Scalable Video Sequences in Distributed Streaming Environments], In Proc. of 14th ACM/SPIE Multimedia Computing and Networking Conference (MMCN'07), pp. 1--12, San Jose, CA, Jan 2007.

== Software ==

* [[pCDN:Release|Latest Released Version]]

* [[pCDN:Installation|Installation Guide]]

* [[pCDN:Feature|Features List]]

* [https://cs-svn.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/nsl/browser/pCDN Browse Source Code (Subver Server)]

* [[pCDN:Faq|FAQ]]: Please check the FAQ page before submitting a bug report.

* [[pCDN:Bugreport|Howto Report a Bug]]

* [[pCDN:QA|Quality Assurance]]

* [[pCDN:develop|Developing new features for pCDN]]: We describe the tools and conventions used in software developments.

== Documents ==

* [[pCDN:Testplan|Software Test Plan]]

* [[pCDN:Emulator|Stress-test Emulator]]

* [[pCDN:License|Libraries Used and their Licenses]]

* [[pCDN:Logfile|Log File]]

* [[pCDN:Port|Port Assignment]]

* [[pCDN:Backlog|Scrum Backlog]]

* [[pCDN:Progress|Progress and Major Milestones]]

* An out-dated [[media:pcdn_old_design.doc|design document]]. We are revising it.

* A [[media:geo_fencing.doc|requirement document]] for geo fencing.

File:GCCLK09.pdf

2009-11-05T09:26:45Z

MediaWiki default:

Private:mobileTV

2009-11-05T09:25:45Z

MediaWiki default:

'''Mobile TV Networks'''

Mobile TV allows users to watch their favorite TV shows and games on small hand-held devices while
traveling. It, therefore, extends the Prime Time viewing of users and provides more business opportunities
for content providers. The market for mobile TV is huge: it is expected to grow to up to 20 billion Euros
with 500 million customers by 2011[http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/451&format=PDF]. In fact, mobile TV has already been deployed in parts of Europe and Asia and in pilot-testing in several locations in North and South Americas [http://www.dvb-h.org/ (official DVB-H site)]. This rapid adoption is fueled by the desire of users for multimedia content and by the technological advances in wireless mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart cellular phones, and mobile media players. Many of these devices have evolved to almost full-fledged mobile computers with high resolution displays, fast network links, large memory and storage space, and fast processors. Therefore, multimedia content can be rendered on most of these mobile devices, which further stimulates the user demands for more content and better quality.

We consider various quality-of-service metrics and propose efficient algorithms
to maximize them in mobile TV networks. The considered metrics include: energy
saving, channel switching delay, and network utilization. For mobile TV users,
energy saving and channel switching delay are the two most important metrics.
This is because higher energy saving results in longer watch time, and longer
channel switching delay degrades view experience as many users quickly flip
through numerous TV channels before they decide to watch the specific ones.
For mobile TV network operators, network utilization is the most important
issue, because wireless spectrum is very expensive: often costs multi-million
dollars. We have proposed several algorithms to: (i) maximize energy saving
on mobile devices, (ii) guarantee the switching delay from a TV channel to any
other channel is short, and (iii) maximize the number of channels concurrently
broadcast within a given wireless spectrum. We analytically analyze the
proposed algorithms and conduct extensive simulations to evaluate their
performance. Most importantly, we have also implemented a [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm08demo_abstract.pdf real mobile TV testbed] in
our Lab, which provides us a realistic platform for analyzing the performance
of the proposed broadcast schemes. The mobile TV testbed has two parts: a
commodity Linux box as the base station and several smart phones as receivers.
Our simulation and experimental results indicate that the proposed broadcast
schemes are: (i) optimal/near-optimal, (ii) efficient and scalable, and (iii)
practical for real mobile TV networks.

== People ==

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/ Mohamed Hefeeda]

* [http://www.sfu.ca/~cha16/ ChengHsin Hsu (PhD student)]

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~yliu1/ Yi Liu (MSc student)]

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~cly/ Cong Ly (MSc student)]

== Publications ==

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/ton09_abr.pdf Broadcasting Video Streams Encoded with Arbitrary Bit Rates in Energy-Constrained Mobile TV Networks], IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Accepted August 2009.

* M. Hefeeda and C. Hsu, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/ton09_burst.pdf On Burst Transmission Scheduling in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks], IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Accepted July 2009.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm09.pdf On Statistical Multiplexing of Variable-Bit-Rate Video Streams in Mobile Systems], In Proc. of ACM Multimedia 2009, Beijing, China, October 2009. Acceptance: 18%.

* Y. Liu, C. Hsu, and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm09-short.pdf On the Benefits of Cooperative Video Broadcast over WMANs and WLANs], In Proc. of ACM Multimedia 2009, short paper, Beijing, China, October 2009. Acceptance: 30%.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/pv09b.pdf Multi-Layer Video Broadcasting with Low Channel Switching Delays], In Proc. of IEEE International Packet Video Workshop (PV'09), Seattle, WA, May 2009.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/networking09.pdf Video Broadcasting to Heterogeneous Mobile Devices], In Proc. of IFIP Networking 2009, Aachen, Germany, May 2009. Published in Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Computer Science, LNCS 5550, pp. 600--613, 2009. Acceptance: 20%

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/infocom09.pdf Time Slicing in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks with Arbitrary Channel Bit Rates], In Proc. of IEEE INFOCOM 2009, pp. 2231--2239, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 2009. Acceptance: 20%

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mmcn09.pdf Bounding Switching Delay in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks], In Proc. of ACM/SPIE Multimedia Computing and Networking Conference (MMCN'09), San Jose, CA, January 2009.

* M. Hefeeda, C. Hsu, and Y. Liu, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm08demo_abstract.pdf Testbed and Experiments for Mobile TV (DVB-H) Networks], ACM Multimedia'08 Technical Demonstration, Vancouver, Canada, October 2008. [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm08DemoAward.pdf Best Demo Award]

* M. Hefeeda and C. Hsu, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/innovations08.pdf Energy Optimization in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks], In Proc. of IEEE International Conference on Innovations in Information Technology (Innovations'08), pp. 430--434, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, December 2008. Best Paper Award.

== Press Coverage ==

* July 1, 2009: Our mobile TV research is also featured in the July issue of the ACM Tech News: [http://technews.acm.org/archives.cfm?fo=2009-07-jul/jul-01-2009.html#418148 see article] or [[media:acmnews09.pdf| local PDF]]

* June 26, 2009: Our mobile TV project is featured on CTV News: [http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090625/bc_mobile_tv_090625/ see article] or [[media:ctv09.pdf | local PDF]]

* June 15, 2009: Omni-TV featured Cheng and our mobile TV project (in Mandarin): [[media:omni09.mpg | local mpeg file]]

* June 4, 2009: The mobile TV project is in World Journal News (in Mandarin): [http://van.worldjournal.com/printer_friendly/2667437# see article] or [[media:worldjournal09.pdf | local PDF]]

* May 28, 2009: The mobile TV project is in SFU News: [http://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/news/story_05290909.shtml see article] or [[media:sfunews09.pdf | local PDF]]

== Mobile TV (DVB-H) Testbed ==

We have implemented a complete end-to-end testbed for [http://www.dvb-h.org/ DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast--Handheld)] networks. The testbed provides a realistic platform for analyzing
various aspects of these networks, including the energy saving
achieved by the time slicing mechanism, average channel switching
delay, network capacity in terms of number of TV channels that
can be broadcast, visual quality of TV channels transmitting different
types of video streams, information exchange and interactivity
between base station and receivers, among many others. To the best
of our knowledge, there exists no complete open-source testbed for DVB-H.
The details of testbeds and pilot networks created by companies are
usually not published, and the source code is not available. Thus
academic researchers designing algorithms and protocols for mobile
TV networks, including ourselves, had to resort to simulation
and/or theoretical analysis. To address this problem, we make the
details and source code of our testbed available to the research community.

The main components of our mobile TV testbed are shown in the following figure.

[[Image:MobileTV2.jpg|center|685px|Mobile TV Testbed]]

''' Base Station.''' The base station is a Linux box (Intel Quad-Core Xeon E5420 (2.5 GHz) PC running Ubuntu Linux) in which we installed the RF signal modulator: Dektec DTA-110T DVB-T/H Modulator and UHF Upconverter for PCI Bus.
This modulator implements the physical layer of the protocol stack and transmits
DVB-H standard compliant signals via an indoor antenna. The RF
output level of the modulator, however, is quite low (-29 dBm)
and can only reach up to 1-meter broadcast range with a 6 dB receiver
antenna. Using a low-power amplifier, the RF signal can be
boosted to about 0 dBm, which gives us approximately 20-meter
range in our lab environment.

IP packets of the video streams are encapsulated in MPEs and FEC-coded using
an IP Encapsulator. In the initial setup, we adopt an
[http://amuse.ftw.at/downloads/encapsulator open-source IP Encapsulator], which
implements simple time slicing techniques. We extended that IP encapsulator to
support more sophisticated and optimal time slicing schemes. Recently, we have re-designed
the base station software to be well-structured
with defined interfaces in order to facilitate implementing and comparing
different current/future algorithms, including multimedia streaming and time slicing algorithms.
This new base station design follows multi-threaded paradigm, and can fully utilize
multi-processor systems, which is common nowadays. We continue improving
the base station implementation: the latest source code can be browsed at
[https://cs-svn.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/nsl/browser/DVB-H the subversion server].

'''Receivers.''' We use the Nokia N92 and N96 device as receivers. These
devices are equipped with the receiver-side of the DVB-H protocol
and video player. The operating system on this device (Symbian)
provides several APIs, including APIs for measuring energy consumption.
While the N92 device helps in assessing the visual quality
of videos, it does not provide detailed logging functions of the
low-level signals, which are needed to evaluate the performance
of different protocols. To address this shortcoming, we added the
Divi Catch RF-T/H transport stream analyzer to the testbed. This analyzer
can be attached to a PC via a USB port. The analyzer records traffic
streams as well as provides a very detailed information on the RF
signal, the MPEs, jitter, time slicing, and so on. It also comes with
a visualization software that can run on the PC for analysis.

== Software ==

We have two testbed implementations: (i) FATCAPS base station, and (ii) integrated base station. The former one is based on FATCAPS implementation, while the later one is implemented by us from scratch.

=== FATCAPS Based Implementation ===

We initially implemented our testbed on top of FATCAPS, which is an open source time slicer implementation. Several documents are listed in the following.

* [[mobile_tv_testbed_software| Testcases abstracted in early 2008 ]]
* [[Time slicing in DVB-H | Setting up a base station using FATCAPS]]
* [[PSI_SI_DVB-H | Overview of PSI/SI]]
* [[ESG_DVB-H | Overview of Electronic Service Guide (ESG)]]
* [[FLUTE_DVB-H | Overview of FLUTE/ALC protocol]]
* [[Nokia S60 Platform battery monitor tool | Juice: an energy profiling tool ]]
* We have collected several MPEG-2 TS stream traces. These streams are compatible with recent Nokia handsets, such as N96. (We thank Abertis Telecom for providing us some of these traces. )
*# [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/traces/nokia/n96.ts Nokia stream #1]
*# [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/traces/nokia/nokia_ts.ts Nokia stream #2]
*# [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/traces/nokia/dvbh-tdt.ts Nokia stream #3]
* [[Private: implementing esg | Implementing ESG]]

=== MTV Implementation ===

We have implemented the software of DVB-H base stations as an open-source project called ''mtv''. Unlike commercial products, mtv allows researchers to implement their ideas and algorithms on top of it. Thus researchers can evaluate the real performance of their ideas in an open-source experimentation platform that is very close to deployed networks.

The latest base station code can be browsed a [https://cs-svn.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/nsl/browser/DVB-H the subversion server]. We continue improving the base station implementation, and we list ongoing/future works in [[MobileTV Todo | this document]].

== Discussion and Ideas ==

* [[Private: mobile_tv_meeting_minutes | Meeting Minutes (login required)]]

* [[Private:mobile_streaming_ideas|Underinvestigated ideas of streaming to mobile devices (login required)]]

== References and Links ==

* Q. Gao, M. Chari, A. Chen, F. Ling, and K. Walker, "[[media:GCCLK09.pdf|MediaFLO Technology: FLO Air Interface Overview]]": This book chapter explains why mediaFLO achieves short channel switching delay. MediaFLO employs 1-sec superframe and each MLC is transmitted as four bursts in every superframe. Therefore, when user switches the channel in superframe x, the receiver will get all the four bursts in superframe x+1, which takes 1 to 2 secs, where 1 is the best case and 2 is the worst case. This article also indicates that the time-frequency assignment need not be rectangle, which allows finer grained resource allocation and thus better statistical multiplexing gain. However, this paper does not address the relationship between energy saving and time-freq allocation. There is only one sentence saying that the receiving circuit should avoid modulating the symbols irrelevant to the current channel to save energy.

* M. Chari, F. Ling, A. Mantravadi, R. Krishnamoorthi, R. Vijayan, G. Walker, and R. Chandhok, “FLO physical layer: An overview,” IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 145–160, March 2007.

* [http://www.mediaflo.com/mediaflo/index.html Media FLO Technology]

* [http://www.openmobilevideo.com/about-mobile-dtv/standards/ ATSC Mobile DTV]

* [http://www.dvb-h.org/ The official Mobile TV website maintained by the DVB Project Office.]

* [http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/WING-TV/ Wing-TV Project:] Docs to test and to verify in detail the DVB-H specification.

* J. Wang, M. Venkatachalam, and Y. Fang, [http://www.fang.ece.ufl.edu/mypaper/jsac07wang.pdf System Architecture and Cross-Layer Optimization of Video Broadcast over WiMAX], IEEE JSAC 25(4), pp. 712--721, MAY 2007. (Check this special issue of JSAC as well.)

* G. Gardikis, G. Xilouris, C. Skianis, [http://www.springerlink.com/content/a32p21815h46n12q/ Broadband multimedia on the move with DVB-H], Multimedia Tools and Applications, 36(1-2), January 2008. (DVB-H tutorial in inter-active mode.)

* [http://limbos.wiki.sourceforge.net/ LIMBOS LInux setup for accessing Mobile Broadcasting through Online Streaming]

File:GCCLK09.txt

2009-11-05T09:24:21Z

MediaWiki default:

Private:mobileTV

2009-11-05T09:17:48Z

MediaWiki default:

'''Mobile TV Networks'''

Mobile TV allows users to watch their favorite TV shows and games on small hand-held devices while
traveling. It, therefore, extends the Prime Time viewing of users and provides more business opportunities
for content providers. The market for mobile TV is huge: it is expected to grow to up to 20 billion Euros
with 500 million customers by 2011[http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/451&format=PDF]. In fact, mobile TV has already been deployed in parts of Europe and Asia and in pilot-testing in several locations in North and South Americas [http://www.dvb-h.org/ (official DVB-H site)]. This rapid adoption is fueled by the desire of users for multimedia content and by the technological advances in wireless mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart cellular phones, and mobile media players. Many of these devices have evolved to almost full-fledged mobile computers with high resolution displays, fast network links, large memory and storage space, and fast processors. Therefore, multimedia content can be rendered on most of these mobile devices, which further stimulates the user demands for more content and better quality.

We consider various quality-of-service metrics and propose efficient algorithms
to maximize them in mobile TV networks. The considered metrics include: energy
saving, channel switching delay, and network utilization. For mobile TV users,
energy saving and channel switching delay are the two most important metrics.
This is because higher energy saving results in longer watch time, and longer
channel switching delay degrades view experience as many users quickly flip
through numerous TV channels before they decide to watch the specific ones.
For mobile TV network operators, network utilization is the most important
issue, because wireless spectrum is very expensive: often costs multi-million
dollars. We have proposed several algorithms to: (i) maximize energy saving
on mobile devices, (ii) guarantee the switching delay from a TV channel to any
other channel is short, and (iii) maximize the number of channels concurrently
broadcast within a given wireless spectrum. We analytically analyze the
proposed algorithms and conduct extensive simulations to evaluate their
performance. Most importantly, we have also implemented a [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm08demo_abstract.pdf real mobile TV testbed] in
our Lab, which provides us a realistic platform for analyzing the performance
of the proposed broadcast schemes. The mobile TV testbed has two parts: a
commodity Linux box as the base station and several smart phones as receivers.
Our simulation and experimental results indicate that the proposed broadcast
schemes are: (i) optimal/near-optimal, (ii) efficient and scalable, and (iii)
practical for real mobile TV networks.

== People ==

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/ Mohamed Hefeeda]

* [http://www.sfu.ca/~cha16/ ChengHsin Hsu (PhD student)]

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~yliu1/ Yi Liu (MSc student)]

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~cly/ Cong Ly (MSc student)]

== Publications ==

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/ton09_abr.pdf Broadcasting Video Streams Encoded with Arbitrary Bit Rates in Energy-Constrained Mobile TV Networks], IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Accepted August 2009.

* M. Hefeeda and C. Hsu, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/ton09_burst.pdf On Burst Transmission Scheduling in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks], IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Accepted July 2009.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm09.pdf On Statistical Multiplexing of Variable-Bit-Rate Video Streams in Mobile Systems], In Proc. of ACM Multimedia 2009, Beijing, China, October 2009. Acceptance: 18%.

* Y. Liu, C. Hsu, and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm09-short.pdf On the Benefits of Cooperative Video Broadcast over WMANs and WLANs], In Proc. of ACM Multimedia 2009, short paper, Beijing, China, October 2009. Acceptance: 30%.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/pv09b.pdf Multi-Layer Video Broadcasting with Low Channel Switching Delays], In Proc. of IEEE International Packet Video Workshop (PV'09), Seattle, WA, May 2009.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/networking09.pdf Video Broadcasting to Heterogeneous Mobile Devices], In Proc. of IFIP Networking 2009, Aachen, Germany, May 2009. Published in Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Computer Science, LNCS 5550, pp. 600--613, 2009. Acceptance: 20%

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/infocom09.pdf Time Slicing in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks with Arbitrary Channel Bit Rates], In Proc. of IEEE INFOCOM 2009, pp. 2231--2239, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 2009. Acceptance: 20%

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mmcn09.pdf Bounding Switching Delay in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks], In Proc. of ACM/SPIE Multimedia Computing and Networking Conference (MMCN'09), San Jose, CA, January 2009.

* M. Hefeeda, C. Hsu, and Y. Liu, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm08demo_abstract.pdf Testbed and Experiments for Mobile TV (DVB-H) Networks], ACM Multimedia'08 Technical Demonstration, Vancouver, Canada, October 2008. [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm08DemoAward.pdf Best Demo Award]

* M. Hefeeda and C. Hsu, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/innovations08.pdf Energy Optimization in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks], In Proc. of IEEE International Conference on Innovations in Information Technology (Innovations'08), pp. 430--434, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, December 2008. Best Paper Award.

== Press Coverage ==

* July 1, 2009: Our mobile TV research is also featured in the July issue of the ACM Tech News: [http://technews.acm.org/archives.cfm?fo=2009-07-jul/jul-01-2009.html#418148 see article] or [[media:acmnews09.pdf| local PDF]]

* June 26, 2009: Our mobile TV project is featured on CTV News: [http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090625/bc_mobile_tv_090625/ see article] or [[media:ctv09.pdf | local PDF]]

* June 15, 2009: Omni-TV featured Cheng and our mobile TV project (in Mandarin): [[media:omni09.mpg | local mpeg file]]

* June 4, 2009: The mobile TV project is in World Journal News (in Mandarin): [http://van.worldjournal.com/printer_friendly/2667437# see article] or [[media:worldjournal09.pdf | local PDF]]

* May 28, 2009: The mobile TV project is in SFU News: [http://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/news/story_05290909.shtml see article] or [[media:sfunews09.pdf | local PDF]]

== Mobile TV (DVB-H) Testbed ==

We have implemented a complete end-to-end testbed for [http://www.dvb-h.org/ DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast--Handheld)] networks. The testbed provides a realistic platform for analyzing
various aspects of these networks, including the energy saving
achieved by the time slicing mechanism, average channel switching
delay, network capacity in terms of number of TV channels that
can be broadcast, visual quality of TV channels transmitting different
types of video streams, information exchange and interactivity
between base station and receivers, among many others. To the best
of our knowledge, there exists no complete open-source testbed for DVB-H.
The details of testbeds and pilot networks created by companies are
usually not published, and the source code is not available. Thus
academic researchers designing algorithms and protocols for mobile
TV networks, including ourselves, had to resort to simulation
and/or theoretical analysis. To address this problem, we make the
details and source code of our testbed available to the research community.

The main components of our mobile TV testbed are shown in the following figure.

[[Image:MobileTV2.jpg|center|685px|Mobile TV Testbed]]

''' Base Station.''' The base station is a Linux box (Intel Quad-Core Xeon E5420 (2.5 GHz) PC running Ubuntu Linux) in which we installed the RF signal modulator: Dektec DTA-110T DVB-T/H Modulator and UHF Upconverter for PCI Bus.
This modulator implements the physical layer of the protocol stack and transmits
DVB-H standard compliant signals via an indoor antenna. The RF
output level of the modulator, however, is quite low (-29 dBm)
and can only reach up to 1-meter broadcast range with a 6 dB receiver
antenna. Using a low-power amplifier, the RF signal can be
boosted to about 0 dBm, which gives us approximately 20-meter
range in our lab environment.

IP packets of the video streams are encapsulated in MPEs and FEC-coded using
an IP Encapsulator. In the initial setup, we adopt an
[http://amuse.ftw.at/downloads/encapsulator open-source IP Encapsulator], which
implements simple time slicing techniques. We extended that IP encapsulator to
support more sophisticated and optimal time slicing schemes. Recently, we have re-designed
the base station software to be well-structured
with defined interfaces in order to facilitate implementing and comparing
different current/future algorithms, including multimedia streaming and time slicing algorithms.
This new base station design follows multi-threaded paradigm, and can fully utilize
multi-processor systems, which is common nowadays. We continue improving
the base station implementation: the latest source code can be browsed at
[https://cs-svn.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/nsl/browser/DVB-H the subversion server].

'''Receivers.''' We use the Nokia N92 and N96 device as receivers. These
devices are equipped with the receiver-side of the DVB-H protocol
and video player. The operating system on this device (Symbian)
provides several APIs, including APIs for measuring energy consumption.
While the N92 device helps in assessing the visual quality
of videos, it does not provide detailed logging functions of the
low-level signals, which are needed to evaluate the performance
of different protocols. To address this shortcoming, we added the
Divi Catch RF-T/H transport stream analyzer to the testbed. This analyzer
can be attached to a PC via a USB port. The analyzer records traffic
streams as well as provides a very detailed information on the RF
signal, the MPEs, jitter, time slicing, and so on. It also comes with
a visualization software that can run on the PC for analysis.

== Software ==

We have two testbed implementations: (i) FATCAPS base station, and (ii) integrated base station. The former one is based on FATCAPS implementation, while the later one is implemented by us from scratch.

=== FATCAPS Based Implementation ===

We initially implemented our testbed on top of FATCAPS, which is an open source time slicer implementation. Several documents are listed in the following.

* [[mobile_tv_testbed_software| Testcases abstracted in early 2008 ]]
* [[Time slicing in DVB-H | Setting up a base station using FATCAPS]]
* [[PSI_SI_DVB-H | Overview of PSI/SI]]
* [[ESG_DVB-H | Overview of Electronic Service Guide (ESG)]]
* [[FLUTE_DVB-H | Overview of FLUTE/ALC protocol]]
* [[Nokia S60 Platform battery monitor tool | Juice: an energy profiling tool ]]
* We have collected several MPEG-2 TS stream traces. These streams are compatible with recent Nokia handsets, such as N96. (We thank Abertis Telecom for providing us some of these traces. )
*# [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/traces/nokia/n96.ts Nokia stream #1]
*# [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/traces/nokia/nokia_ts.ts Nokia stream #2]
*# [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/traces/nokia/dvbh-tdt.ts Nokia stream #3]
* [[Private: implementing esg | Implementing ESG]]

=== MTV Implementation ===

We have implemented the software of DVB-H base stations as an open-source project called ''mtv''. Unlike commercial products, mtv allows researchers to implement their ideas and algorithms on top of it. Thus researchers can evaluate the real performance of their ideas in an open-source experimentation platform that is very close to deployed networks.

The latest base station code can be browsed a [https://cs-svn.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/nsl/browser/DVB-H the subversion server]. We continue improving the base station implementation, and we list ongoing/future works in [[MobileTV Todo | this document]].

== Discussion and Ideas ==

* [[Private: mobile_tv_meeting_minutes | Meeting Minutes (login required)]]

* [[Private:mobile_streaming_ideas|Underinvestigated ideas of streaming to mobile devices (login required)]]

== References and Links ==

* Q. Gao, M. Chari, A. Chen, F. Ling, and K. Walker, "[[media:GCCLK09|MediaFLO Technology: FLO Air Interface Overview]]": This book chapter explains why mediaFLO achieves short channel switching delay. MediaFLO employs 1-sec superframe and each MLC is transmitted as four bursts in every superframe. Therefore, when user switches the channel in superframe x, the receiver will get all the four bursts in superframe x+1, which takes 1 to 2 secs, where 1 is the best case and 2 is the worst case. This article also indicates that the time-frequency assignment need not be rectangle, which allows finer grained resource allocation and thus better statistical multiplexing gain. However, this paper does not address the relationship between energy saving and time-freq allocation. There is only one sentence saying that the receiving circuit should avoid modulating the symbols irrelevant to the current channel to save energy.

* M. Chari, F. Ling, A. Mantravadi, R. Krishnamoorthi, R. Vijayan, G. Walker, and R. Chandhok, “FLO physical layer: An overview,” IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 145–160, March 2007.

* [http://www.mediaflo.com/mediaflo/index.html Media FLO Technology]

* [http://www.openmobilevideo.com/about-mobile-dtv/standards/ ATSC Mobile DTV]

* [http://www.dvb-h.org/ The official Mobile TV website maintained by the DVB Project Office.]

* [http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/WING-TV/ Wing-TV Project:] Docs to test and to verify in detail the DVB-H specification.

* J. Wang, M. Venkatachalam, and Y. Fang, [http://www.fang.ece.ufl.edu/mypaper/jsac07wang.pdf System Architecture and Cross-Layer Optimization of Video Broadcast over WiMAX], IEEE JSAC 25(4), pp. 712--721, MAY 2007. (Check this special issue of JSAC as well.)

* G. Gardikis, G. Xilouris, C. Skianis, [http://www.springerlink.com/content/a32p21815h46n12q/ Broadband multimedia on the move with DVB-H], Multimedia Tools and Applications, 36(1-2), January 2008. (DVB-H tutorial in inter-active mode.)

* [http://limbos.wiki.sourceforge.net/ LIMBOS LInux setup for accessing Mobile Broadcasting through Online Streaming]

Private:mobileTV

2009-11-05T09:17:25Z

MediaWiki default:

'''Mobile TV Networks'''

Mobile TV allows users to watch their favorite TV shows and games on small hand-held devices while
traveling. It, therefore, extends the Prime Time viewing of users and provides more business opportunities
for content providers. The market for mobile TV is huge: it is expected to grow to up to 20 billion Euros
with 500 million customers by 2011[http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/451&format=PDF]. In fact, mobile TV has already been deployed in parts of Europe and Asia and in pilot-testing in several locations in North and South Americas [http://www.dvb-h.org/ (official DVB-H site)]. This rapid adoption is fueled by the desire of users for multimedia content and by the technological advances in wireless mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart cellular phones, and mobile media players. Many of these devices have evolved to almost full-fledged mobile computers with high resolution displays, fast network links, large memory and storage space, and fast processors. Therefore, multimedia content can be rendered on most of these mobile devices, which further stimulates the user demands for more content and better quality.

We consider various quality-of-service metrics and propose efficient algorithms
to maximize them in mobile TV networks. The considered metrics include: energy
saving, channel switching delay, and network utilization. For mobile TV users,
energy saving and channel switching delay are the two most important metrics.
This is because higher energy saving results in longer watch time, and longer
channel switching delay degrades view experience as many users quickly flip
through numerous TV channels before they decide to watch the specific ones.
For mobile TV network operators, network utilization is the most important
issue, because wireless spectrum is very expensive: often costs multi-million
dollars. We have proposed several algorithms to: (i) maximize energy saving
on mobile devices, (ii) guarantee the switching delay from a TV channel to any
other channel is short, and (iii) maximize the number of channels concurrently
broadcast within a given wireless spectrum. We analytically analyze the
proposed algorithms and conduct extensive simulations to evaluate their
performance. Most importantly, we have also implemented a [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm08demo_abstract.pdf real mobile TV testbed] in
our Lab, which provides us a realistic platform for analyzing the performance
of the proposed broadcast schemes. The mobile TV testbed has two parts: a
commodity Linux box as the base station and several smart phones as receivers.
Our simulation and experimental results indicate that the proposed broadcast
schemes are: (i) optimal/near-optimal, (ii) efficient and scalable, and (iii)
practical for real mobile TV networks.

== People ==

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/ Mohamed Hefeeda]

* [http://www.sfu.ca/~cha16/ ChengHsin Hsu (PhD student)]

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~yliu1/ Yi Liu (MSc student)]

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~cly/ Cong Ly (MSc student)]

== Publications ==

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/ton09_abr.pdf Broadcasting Video Streams Encoded with Arbitrary Bit Rates in Energy-Constrained Mobile TV Networks], IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Accepted August 2009.

* M. Hefeeda and C. Hsu, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/ton09_burst.pdf On Burst Transmission Scheduling in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks], IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Accepted July 2009.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm09.pdf On Statistical Multiplexing of Variable-Bit-Rate Video Streams in Mobile Systems], In Proc. of ACM Multimedia 2009, Beijing, China, October 2009. Acceptance: 18%.

* Y. Liu, C. Hsu, and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm09-short.pdf On the Benefits of Cooperative Video Broadcast over WMANs and WLANs], In Proc. of ACM Multimedia 2009, short paper, Beijing, China, October 2009. Acceptance: 30%.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/pv09b.pdf Multi-Layer Video Broadcasting with Low Channel Switching Delays], In Proc. of IEEE International Packet Video Workshop (PV'09), Seattle, WA, May 2009.

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/networking09.pdf Video Broadcasting to Heterogeneous Mobile Devices], In Proc. of IFIP Networking 2009, Aachen, Germany, May 2009. Published in Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Computer Science, LNCS 5550, pp. 600--613, 2009. Acceptance: 20%

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/infocom09.pdf Time Slicing in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks with Arbitrary Channel Bit Rates], In Proc. of IEEE INFOCOM 2009, pp. 2231--2239, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 2009. Acceptance: 20%

* C. Hsu and M. Hefeeda, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mmcn09.pdf Bounding Switching Delay in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks], In Proc. of ACM/SPIE Multimedia Computing and Networking Conference (MMCN'09), San Jose, CA, January 2009.

* M. Hefeeda, C. Hsu, and Y. Liu, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm08demo_abstract.pdf Testbed and Experiments for Mobile TV (DVB-H) Networks], ACM Multimedia'08 Technical Demonstration, Vancouver, Canada, October 2008. [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/mm08DemoAward.pdf Best Demo Award]

* M. Hefeeda and C. Hsu, [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/Papers/innovations08.pdf Energy Optimization in Mobile TV Broadcast Networks], In Proc. of IEEE International Conference on Innovations in Information Technology (Innovations'08), pp. 430--434, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, December 2008. Best Paper Award.

== Press Coverage ==

* July 1, 2009: Our mobile TV research is also featured in the July issue of the ACM Tech News: [http://technews.acm.org/archives.cfm?fo=2009-07-jul/jul-01-2009.html#418148 see article] or [[media:acmnews09.pdf| local PDF]]

* June 26, 2009: Our mobile TV project is featured on CTV News: [http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090625/bc_mobile_tv_090625/ see article] or [[media:ctv09.pdf | local PDF]]

* June 15, 2009: Omni-TV featured Cheng and our mobile TV project (in Mandarin): [[media:omni09.mpg | local mpeg file]]

* June 4, 2009: The mobile TV project is in World Journal News (in Mandarin): [http://van.worldjournal.com/printer_friendly/2667437# see article] or [[media:worldjournal09.pdf | local PDF]]

* May 28, 2009: The mobile TV project is in SFU News: [http://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/news/story_05290909.shtml see article] or [[media:sfunews09.pdf | local PDF]]

== Mobile TV (DVB-H) Testbed ==

We have implemented a complete end-to-end testbed for [http://www.dvb-h.org/ DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast--Handheld)] networks. The testbed provides a realistic platform for analyzing
various aspects of these networks, including the energy saving
achieved by the time slicing mechanism, average channel switching
delay, network capacity in terms of number of TV channels that
can be broadcast, visual quality of TV channels transmitting different
types of video streams, information exchange and interactivity
between base station and receivers, among many others. To the best
of our knowledge, there exists no complete open-source testbed for DVB-H.
The details of testbeds and pilot networks created by companies are
usually not published, and the source code is not available. Thus
academic researchers designing algorithms and protocols for mobile
TV networks, including ourselves, had to resort to simulation
and/or theoretical analysis. To address this problem, we make the
details and source code of our testbed available to the research community.

The main components of our mobile TV testbed are shown in the following figure.

[[Image:MobileTV2.jpg|center|685px|Mobile TV Testbed]]

''' Base Station.''' The base station is a Linux box (Intel Quad-Core Xeon E5420 (2.5 GHz) PC running Ubuntu Linux) in which we installed the RF signal modulator: Dektec DTA-110T DVB-T/H Modulator and UHF Upconverter for PCI Bus.
This modulator implements the physical layer of the protocol stack and transmits
DVB-H standard compliant signals via an indoor antenna. The RF
output level of the modulator, however, is quite low (-29 dBm)
and can only reach up to 1-meter broadcast range with a 6 dB receiver
antenna. Using a low-power amplifier, the RF signal can be
boosted to about 0 dBm, which gives us approximately 20-meter
range in our lab environment.

IP packets of the video streams are encapsulated in MPEs and FEC-coded using
an IP Encapsulator. In the initial setup, we adopt an
[http://amuse.ftw.at/downloads/encapsulator open-source IP Encapsulator], which
implements simple time slicing techniques. We extended that IP encapsulator to
support more sophisticated and optimal time slicing schemes. Recently, we have re-designed
the base station software to be well-structured
with defined interfaces in order to facilitate implementing and comparing
different current/future algorithms, including multimedia streaming and time slicing algorithms.
This new base station design follows multi-threaded paradigm, and can fully utilize
multi-processor systems, which is common nowadays. We continue improving
the base station implementation: the latest source code can be browsed at
[https://cs-svn.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/nsl/browser/DVB-H the subversion server].

'''Receivers.''' We use the Nokia N92 and N96 device as receivers. These
devices are equipped with the receiver-side of the DVB-H protocol
and video player. The operating system on this device (Symbian)
provides several APIs, including APIs for measuring energy consumption.
While the N92 device helps in assessing the visual quality
of videos, it does not provide detailed logging functions of the
low-level signals, which are needed to evaluate the performance
of different protocols. To address this shortcoming, we added the
Divi Catch RF-T/H transport stream analyzer to the testbed. This analyzer
can be attached to a PC via a USB port. The analyzer records traffic
streams as well as provides a very detailed information on the RF
signal, the MPEs, jitter, time slicing, and so on. It also comes with
a visualization software that can run on the PC for analysis.

== Software ==

We have two testbed implementations: (i) FATCAPS base station, and (ii) integrated base station. The former one is based on FATCAPS implementation, while the later one is implemented by us from scratch.

=== FATCAPS Based Implementation ===

We initially implemented our testbed on top of FATCAPS, which is an open source time slicer implementation. Several documents are listed in the following.

* [[mobile_tv_testbed_software| Testcases abstracted in early 2008 ]]
* [[Time slicing in DVB-H | Setting up a base station using FATCAPS]]
* [[PSI_SI_DVB-H | Overview of PSI/SI]]
* [[ESG_DVB-H | Overview of Electronic Service Guide (ESG)]]
* [[FLUTE_DVB-H | Overview of FLUTE/ALC protocol]]
* [[Nokia S60 Platform battery monitor tool | Juice: an energy profiling tool ]]
* We have collected several MPEG-2 TS stream traces. These streams are compatible with recent Nokia handsets, such as N96. (We thank Abertis Telecom for providing us some of these traces. )
*# [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/traces/nokia/n96.ts Nokia stream #1]
*# [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/traces/nokia/nokia_ts.ts Nokia stream #2]
*# [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/traces/nokia/dvbh-tdt.ts Nokia stream #3]
* [[Private: implementing esg | Implementing ESG]]

=== MTV Implementation ===

We have implemented the software of DVB-H base stations as an open-source project called ''mtv''. Unlike commercial products, mtv allows researchers to implement their ideas and algorithms on top of it. Thus researchers can evaluate the real performance of their ideas in an open-source experimentation platform that is very close to deployed networks.

The latest base station code can be browsed a [https://cs-svn.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/nsl/browser/DVB-H the subversion server]. We continue improving the base station implementation, and we list ongoing/future works in [[MobileTV Todo | this document]].

== Discussion and Ideas ==

* [[Private: mobile_tv_meeting_minutes | Meeting Minutes (login required)]]

* [[Private:mobile_streaming_ideas|Underinvestigated ideas of streaming to mobile devices (login required)]]

== References and Links ==

* Q. Gao, M. Chari, A. Chen, F. Ling, and K. Walker, "[[media:GCCLK09|MediaFLO Technology: FLO Air Interface Overview]]": This book chapter explains why mediaFLO achieves short channel switching delay. MediaFLO employs 1-sec superframe and each MLC is transmitted as four bursts in every superframe. Therefore, when user switches the channel in superframe x, the receiver will get all the four bursts in superframe x+1, which takes 1 to 2 secs, where 1 is the best case and 2 is the worst case. This article also indicates that the time-frequency assignment need not be rectangle, which allows finer grained resource allocation and thus better statistical multiplexing gain. However, this paper does not address the relationship between energy saving and time-freq allocation. There is only one sentence saying that the receiving circuit should avoid modulating the symbols irrelevant to the current channel to save energy.

* M. Chari, F. Ling, A. Mantravadi, R. Krishnamoorthi, R. Vijayan, G. Walker, and R. Chandhok, “FLO physical layer: An overview,” IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 145–160, March 2007.

* [http://www.mediaflo.com/mediaflo/index.html Media FLO Technology]

* [http://www.openmobilevideo.com/about-mobile-dtv/standards/ ATSC Mobile DTV]

* [http://www.dvb-h.org/ The official Mobile TV website maintained by the DVB Project Office.]

* [http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/WING-TV/ Wing-TV Project:] Docs to test and to verify in detail the DVB-H specification.

* J. Wang, M. Venkatachalam, and Y. Fang, [http://www.fang.ece.ufl.edu/mypaper/jsac07wang.pdf System Architecture and Cross-Layer Optimization of Video Broadcast over WiMAX], IEEE JSAC 25(4), pp. 712--721, MAY 2007. (Check this special issue of JSAC as well.)

* G. Gardikis, G. Xilouris, C. Skianis, [http://www.springerlink.com/content/a32p21815h46n12q/ Broadband multimedia on the move with DVB-H], Multimedia Tools and Applications, 36(1-2), January 2008. (DVB-H tutorial in inter-active mode.)

* [http://limbos.wiki.sourceforge.net/ LIMBOS LInux setup for accessing Mobile Broadcasting through Online Streaming]

Writing Guidelines

2009-10-27T17:34:22Z

MediaWiki default:

== Embedding Fonts in PDF Files ==

It is required by IEEE, ACM and many other publishers that all fonts are embedded in the document. Embedding fonts is important in order to make the document look and print in the same way the authors intended on different systems.

* Easiest Way (if you are using TeXnicCenter): Download [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/resources/latexPDF_profile.tco this Output Profile] and import it in your TeXnicCenter system (Build --> Define Output Profiles --> Import ...). Always compile your document with that profile.
* Or you can use the following argument line for ps2pdf post processor (in the profile editor of TeXnicCenter)
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite -q -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dSAFER -dPDFX -dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress
-dAutoFilterColorImages=false -dColorImageFilter=/FlateEncode
-dAutoFilterGrayImages=false -dGrayImageFilter=/FlateEncode -sOutputFile="%bm.pdf"
-c save pop -f "%bm.ps"
* You can use the following script with Ghostscript (original source of the script is [http://www.daniel-lemire.com/blog/archives/2005/08/29/getting-pdflatex-to-embed-all-fonts/ here].) Of course change the "outFile.pdf" and "inputFile.pdf" to your files.
gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -q -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dSAFER \
-dPDFX \
-dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress \
-dAutoFilterColorImages=false -dColorImageFilter=/FlateEncode \
-dAutoFilterGrayImages=false -dGrayImageFilter=/FlateEncode \
-sOutputFile=outFile.pdf \
-c `> setdistillerparams` \
-f inputFile.pdf \
-c quit

== Exporting Matlab Figures in The "Right" Dimension ==

* The following scripts set labels and legend into Latex mode, and fix the figure size.
Two figures in a row:
set(gca,'FontSize',18)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 18);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.6 .6 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);
% it repeats here -- matlab does not resize figure properly with only run of the script
set(gca,'FontSize',18)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 18);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.6 .6 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);

Three figures in a row:
set(gca,'FontSize',20)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(gca,'TickDir','out')
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 20);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.65 .65 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);
% it repeats here -- matlab does not resize figure properly with only run of the script
set(gca,'FontSize',20)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(gca,'TickDir','out')
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 20);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.65 .65 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);

== Exporting Microsoft Visio Drawings to EPS ==

To convert Visio-drawn figures to EPS files preserving their vector format, the following options are suggested. The first one, which is more recommended, is to print the Visio image into a PDF file using a PDF printer such as [http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ PDFCreator], and convert the PDF file to EPS. The use of [http://www.imagemagick.org/download/binaries/ ImageMagick] for converting PDF to EPS is recommended. The second option is to save the Visio image as a WMF or EMF (Windows-specific vector image formats), and then convert it to EPS using a software called [http://www.projectory.de/emftoeps/index.html EMF2EPS]. The software requires a PostScript Printer Driver, such as [http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=pdrv&platform=win Adobe's]. Note that printing the Visio file directly to EPS using this printer does not preserve the vector format of the images. All of the softwares mentioned are free.

== Adding Math Symbols in xfig Figures ==

* There are a few other ways to typeset mathematical formulas in figures generated by xfig. We present one straightforward approach.

# First you're in Xfig. Write equations or characters in the schematic. You need $ in both sides, eg, $\phi$.
# Press the "Edit" icon and turn on the Special flag.
# Export the figure into Combined Postscript/LaTeX instead of the usual Encapsulated postscript (EPS) .
# Add \usepackage{epsfig} to your preamble.
# You might need to add \usepackage{color} to your preamable
# When storing fig files in a different from tex files, you need to manually modify pstex_t files whenever you export them. E.g.. I have to change \epsfig{file=coverage.pstex}% into \epsfig{file=../fig/coverage.pstex}%.
# Write the following command to insert your figure in TeX file:
\begin{figure}[ht]
\centering{
\resizebox{.48\textwidth}{!} {
\input{../fig/coverage.pstex_t}
}
}
\caption{Test.} \label{fig:test}
\end{figure}

== Using Times New Roman Font in Latex ==

* You may force your latex compiler to use Times New Roman Font by adding "\usepackage{times}" at the beginning of your master latex file. This may give you more space because Times New Roman font is much more compact. For example, by using times package, you can save about 2 - 3 pages in a SIGCOMM 14-page submission.

* However, due to various typesetting issues, IFIP and ACM conferences do not take PDF files compiled with times package. More precisely, for camera-ready versions, IFIP will NOT accept your PDF files with times package, while ACM may make an exception after negotiation. Notice that, it is your job to eliminate all Warnings reported by Latex, such that the resulting PDF files would look fine.

* While not encouraged, you may consider using times package to save space in your initial submissions. We haven't seen any CFP saying that Times New Roman font should not be used.

== Extracting Raw Data Points from An Existing Matlab Fig File ==

* To extract data points from an existing Matlab fig file:
hl = findobj(gca,'type','line');
xx = get(hl,'xdata');
yy = get(hl,'ydata');

== Avoiding Type 3 Font in xfig Figures ==

* If we use 'Pattern' to fill an object, the resulting eps fil will have Type 3 fonts, which cause problems in the PDF file and will not be accepted by many publishers. Use 'Filled' with 100% instead.
* Alternatively, a patch for xfig/transfig can be found [http://konstantin.shemyak.com/sw/ here]. With a patched xfig, we can generate Type 3 font free eps files with patterns. It is, however, reported that these eps files do not look good in ghostscript PS readers.
* The xfig on nsl/nsl-cpu has been patched. However, it might be a good idea to check your final PDF files in acroread using File->Properties. Remember to ensure: (i) no Type 3 fonts appear and (ii) all fonts are embedded.

Resources

2009-10-27T17:26:54Z

MediaWiki default:

== Technical Reading and Writing ==

* [[Writing Guidelines]], a list of paper writing guidelines used in NSL.

* [http://nsl.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/resources/keshav07.pdf How to Read a Paper], By S. Keshav, ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communications Review, 37(3):83--84, July 2007.

* [http://irl.eecs.umich.edu/jamin/courses/eecs589/papers/checklist.html Paper reading and writing checklists]

* [http://nsl.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/resources/writing-a-paper.pdf How to write a great research paper]

* [http://www.acm.org/publications/policies/plagiarism_policy ACM Policy and Procedures on Plagiarism] (New grad students: Read Section 1 of this document.)

* [http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/mleone/web/how-to.html Useful links on research and writing]

* William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style (available online at: [http://www.bartleby.com/141/ http://www.bartleby.com/141/])

* [http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/dec/essay.dissertation.html How To Write A Dissertation], by Douglas Comer

* J. Zobel, [http://justin.sobell.net/index.htm Writing for Computer Science], 2nd edition, Springer, 2004.

* [http://windowsil.org/2006/09/11/reviewing-a-paper-guidelines/ Reviewing a Journal Paper - Guidelines], by Robert Heath

== Latex Tutorials and Templates ==

*[http://nsl.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/resources/latex-introduction.pdf One page overview of Latex]

*[http://nsl.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/resources/latexManual.pdf Not-so-short Latex tutorial]

*[http://www.texniccenter.org/ TeXnicCenter: Latex integrated environment (graphical), for MS Windows users] Yo need to install [http://miktex.org/ MikTex] before installing this environment.

*[http://kile.sourceforge.net/ Kile: Latex integrated environment, For Linux (KDE) users]

*[http://nsl.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/resources/latexReportTemplate.zip Simple template for writing reports]: use it to write progress reports and initial versions of papers.

*[http://nsl.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/resources/IEEEtran_HOWTO.pdf HOWTO Manual for IEEE Transactions Latex Document]

*[http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/symbols/comprehensive/symbols-letter.pdf The Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol List] ([http://nsl.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/resources/symbols.pdf Local Copy], downloaded in Dec 2007)]

*[http://people.csail.mit.edu/u/j/jrennie/public_html/latex/ Latex tips and tricks by Jason Rennie]

*Some bibliography files (mostly on P2P): [http://nsl.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/resources/literature.bib literature.bib] [http://nsl.cs.surrey.sfu.ca/resources/literature2.bib literature2.bib]

== Matlab Tutorials ==

* [http://www.cyclismo.org/tutorial/matlab/ Matlab tutorial: sorted by topic]

* [http://www.math.mtu.edu/~msgocken/intro/intro.html A practical introduction to Matlab]

* [http://www.mathworks.com/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/matlab.shtml Matlab documentations]

* [http://www.ee.columbia.edu/~marios/matlab/matlab_tricks.html Matlab tips and tricks]

== PlanetLab Tutorials ==

* [[Generate Certificates]]
* [[Getting the latest active nodes]]
* [[Deploying to PlanetLab]]
* [[Get results from PlanetLab]]
* [http://lists.planet-lab.org/pipermail/users/2005-September/001646.html Using '''screen''' on PlanetLab nodes]

== OPNET Tutorials ==

* [[Importing video traffic into OPNET]]

== Networking and Multimedia Courses Taught by NSL Professors ==

* [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/teaching/08/820/ Summer 2008: CMPT 820 -- Multimedia Systems] [[08_cmpt820|Wiki Discussion]]

* [http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mhefeeda/teaching.html Courses Taught by Dr. Mohamed Hefeeda]

== Video Library and Tools ==

* [[Video Library and Tools]]

== Technical Tips (Login Required) ==

* [[Private:Technical|Technical Tips]]

== Random Thoughts (Login Required) ==

* [[Private:Random|Thoughts by Cheng]]

* [[Private:Random_Hefeeda|Thoughts by Mohamed]]

== Hardware/Computing Resources in NSL ==

* [[Hardware/Computing Resources in NSL]]

== Access Control Lists on NSL Servers ==

* [[Private:Create Accounts and Modify Permissions on NSL Servers| Howto Create Accounts and Modify Permissions on NSL Servers (Login Required)]]

Notes on Matlab, LaTex, xfig, and EPS figures

2009-10-27T17:24:25Z

MediaWiki default: Notes on Matlab, LaTex, xfig, and EPS figures moved to Writing Guidelines

#REDIRECT [[Writing Guidelines]]

Writing Guidelines

2009-10-27T17:24:25Z

MediaWiki default: Notes on Matlab, LaTex, xfig, and EPS figures moved to Writing Guidelines

== Embed Fonts in PDF Files ==

It is required by IEEE, ACM and many other publishers that all fonts are embedded in the document. Embedding fonts is important in order to make the document look and print in the same way the authors intended on different systems.

* Easiest Way (if you are using TeXnicCenter): Download [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/resources/latexPDF_profile.tco this Output Profile] and import it in your TeXnicCenter system (Build --> Define Output Profiles --> Import ...). Always compile your document with that profile.
* Or you can use the following argument line for ps2pdf post processor (in the profile editor of TeXnicCenter)
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite -q -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dSAFER -dPDFX -dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress
-dAutoFilterColorImages=false -dColorImageFilter=/FlateEncode
-dAutoFilterGrayImages=false -dGrayImageFilter=/FlateEncode -sOutputFile="%bm.pdf"
-c save pop -f "%bm.ps"
* You can use the following script with Ghostscript (original source of the script is [http://www.daniel-lemire.com/blog/archives/2005/08/29/getting-pdflatex-to-embed-all-fonts/ here].) Of course change the "outFile.pdf" and "inputFile.pdf" to your files.
gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -q -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dSAFER \
-dPDFX \
-dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress \
-dAutoFilterColorImages=false -dColorImageFilter=/FlateEncode \
-dAutoFilterGrayImages=false -dGrayImageFilter=/FlateEncode \
-sOutputFile=outFile.pdf \
-c `> setdistillerparams` \
-f inputFile.pdf \
-c quit

== Exporting Matlab Figure in The "Right" Dimension ==

* The following scripts set labels and legend into Latex mode, and fix the figure size.
Two figures in a row:
set(gca,'FontSize',18)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 18);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.6 .6 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);
% it repeats here -- matlab does not resize figure properly with only run of the script
set(gca,'FontSize',18)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 18);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.6 .6 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);

Three figures in a row:
set(gca,'FontSize',20)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(gca,'TickDir','out')
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 20);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.65 .65 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);
% it repeats here -- matlab does not resize figure properly with only run of the script
set(gca,'FontSize',20)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(gca,'TickDir','out')
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 20);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.65 .65 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);

== Exporting Microsoft Visio Drawings to EPS ==

To convert Visio-drawn figures to EPS files preserving their vector format, the following options are suggested. The first one, which is more recommended, is to print the Visio image into a PDF file using a PDF printer such as [http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ PDFCreator], and convert the PDF file to EPS. The use of [http://www.imagemagick.org/download/binaries/ ImageMagick] for converting PDF to EPS is recommended. The second option is to save the Visio image as a WMF or EMF (Windows-specific vector image formats), and then convert it to EPS using a software called [http://www.projectory.de/emftoeps/index.html EMF2EPS]. The software requires a PostScript Printer Driver, such as [http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=pdrv&platform=win Adobe's]. Note that printing the Visio file directly to EPS using this printer does not preserve the vector format of the images. All of the softwares mentioned are free.

== Math Symbols in xfig Figures ==

* There are a few other ways to typeset mathematical formulas in figures generated by xfig. We present one straightforward approach.

# First you're in Xfig. Write equations or characters in the schematic. You need $ in both sides, eg, $\phi$.
# Press the "Edit" icon and turn on the Special flag.
# Export the figure into Combined Postscript/LaTeX instead of the usual Encapsulated postscript (EPS) .
# Add \usepackage{epsfig} to your preamble.
# You might need to add \usepackage{color} to your preamable
# When storing fig files in a different from tex files, you need to manually modify pstex_t files whenever you export them. E.g.. I have to change \epsfig{file=coverage.pstex}% into \epsfig{file=../fig/coverage.pstex}%.
# Write the following command to insert your figure in TeX file:
\begin{figure}[ht]
\centering{
\resizebox{.48\textwidth}{!} {
\input{../fig/coverage.pstex_t}
}
}
\caption{Test.} \label{fig:test}
\end{figure}

== Using Times New Roman Font in Latex ==

* You may force your latex compiler to use Times New Roman Font by adding "\usepackage{times}" at the beginning of your master latex file. This may give you more space because Times New Roman font is much more compact. For example, by using times package, you can save about 2 - 3 pages in a SIGCOMM 14-page submission.

* However, due to various typesetting issues, IFIP and ACM conferences do not take PDF files compiled with times package. More precisely, for camera-ready versions, IFIP will NOT accept your PDF files with times package, while ACM may make an exception after negotiation. Notice that, it is your job to eliminate all Warnings reported by Latex, such that the resulting PDF files would look fine.

* While not encouraged, you may consider using times package to save space in your initial submissions. We haven't seen any CFP saying that Times New Roman font should not be used.

== Extract Raw Data Points from An Existing Matlab Fig File ==

* To extract data points from an existing Matlab fig file:
hl = findobj(gca,'type','line');
xx = get(hl,'xdata');
yy = get(hl,'ydata');

== Avoid Type 3 Font in xfig Figures ==

* If we use 'Pattern' to fill an object, the resulting eps fil will have Type 3 fonts, which cause problems in the PDF file and will not be accepted by many publishers. Use 'Filled' with 100% instead.
* Alternatively, a patch for xfig/transfig can be found [http://konstantin.shemyak.com/sw/ here]. With a patched xfig, we can generate Type 3 font free eps files with patterns. It is, however, reported that these eps files do not look good in ghostscript PS readers.
* The xfig on nsl/nsl-cpu has been patched. However, it might be a good idea to check your final PDF files in acroread using File->Properties. Remember to ensure: (i) no Type 3 fonts appear and (ii) all fonts are embedded.

Writing Guidelines

2009-10-27T17:18:03Z

MediaWiki default:

Writing Guidelines

2009-10-27T17:02:05Z

MediaWiki default:

== Embed Fonts in PDF Files ==

It is required by IEEE, ACM and many other publishers that all fonts are embedded in the document. Embedding fonts is important in order to make the document look and print in the same way the authors intended on different systems.

* Easiest Way (if you are using TeXnicCenter): Download [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/resources/latexPDF_profile.tco this Output Profile] and import it in your TeXnicCenter system (Build --> Define Output Profiles --> Import ...). Always compile your document with that profile.
* Or you can use the following argument line for ps2pdf post processor (in the profile editor of TeXnicCenter)
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite -q -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dSAFER -dPDFX -dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress
-dAutoFilterColorImages=false -dColorImageFilter=/FlateEncode
-dAutoFilterGrayImages=false -dGrayImageFilter=/FlateEncode -sOutputFile="%bm.pdf"
-c save pop -f "%bm.ps"
* You can use the following script with Ghostscript (original source of the script is [http://www.daniel-lemire.com/blog/archives/2005/08/29/getting-pdflatex-to-embed-all-fonts/ here].) Of course change the "outFile.pdf" and "inputFile.pdf" to your files.
gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -q -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dSAFER \
-dPDFX \
-dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress \
-dAutoFilterColorImages=false -dColorImageFilter=/FlateEncode \
-dAutoFilterGrayImages=false -dGrayImageFilter=/FlateEncode \
-sOutputFile=outFile.pdf \
-c `> setdistillerparams` \
-f inputFile.pdf \
-c quit

== Exporting Matlab Figure in The "Right" Dimension ==

* The following scripts set labels and legend into Latex mode, and fix the figure size.
Two figures in a row:
set(gca,'FontSize',18)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 18);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.6 .6 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);
% it repeats here -- matlab does not resize figure properly with only run of the script
set(gca,'FontSize',18)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 18);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.6 .6 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);

Three figures in a row:
set(gca,'FontSize',20)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(gca,'TickDir','out')
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 20);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.65 .65 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);
% it repeats here -- matlab does not resize figure properly with only run of the script
set(gca,'FontSize',20)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(gca,'TickDir','out')
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 20);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.65 .65 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);

== Exporting Microsoft Visio Drawings to EPS ==

To convert Visio-drawn figures to EPS files preserving their vector format, the following options are suggested. The first one, which is more recommended, is to print the Visio image into a PDF file using a PDF printer such as [http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ PDFCreator], and convert the PDF file to EPS. The use of [http://www.imagemagick.org/download/binaries/ ImageMagick] for converting PDF to EPS is recommended. The second option is to save the Visio image as a WMF or EMF (Windows-specific vector image formats), and then convert it to EPS using a software called [http://www.projectory.de/emftoeps/index.html EMF2EPS]. The software requires a PostScript Printer Driver, such as [http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=pdrv&platform=win Adobe's]. Note that printing the Visio file directly to EPS using this printer does not preserve the vector format of the images. All of the softwares mentioned are free.

== Math Symbols in xfig Figures ==

* There are a few other ways to typeset mathematical formulas in figures generated by xfig. We present one straightforward approach.

# First you're in Xfig. Write equations or characters in the schematic. You need $ in both sides, eg, $\phi$.
# Press the "Edit" icon and turn on the Special flag.
# Export the figure into Combined Postscript/LaTeX instead of the usual Encapsulated postscript (EPS) .
# Add \usepackage{epsfig} to your preamble.
# You might need to add \usepackage{color} to your preamable
# When storing fig files in a different from tex files, you need to manually modify pstex_t files whenever you export them. E.g.. I have to change \epsfig{file=coverage.pstex}% into \epsfig{file=../fig/coverage.pstex}%.
# Write the following command to insert your figure in TeX file:
\begin{figure}[ht]
\centering{
\resizebox{.48\textwidth}{!} {
\input{../fig/coverage.pstex_t}
}
}
\caption{Test.} \label{fig:test}
\end{figure}

== Extract Raw Data Points from An Existing Matlab Fig File ==

* To extract data points from an existing Matlab fig file:
hl = findobj(gca,'type','line');
xx = get(hl,'xdata');
yy = get(hl,'ydata');

== Avoid Type 3 Font in xfig Figures ==

* If we use 'Pattern' to fill an object, the resulting eps fil will have Type 3 fonts, which cause problems in the PDF file and will not be accepted by many publishers. Use 'Filled' with 100% instead.
* Alternatively, a patch for xfig/transfig can be found [http://konstantin.shemyak.com/sw/ here]. With a patched xfig, we can generate Type 3 font free eps files with patterns. It is, however, reported that these eps files do not look good in ghostscript PS readers.
* The xfig on nsl/nsl-cpu has been patched. However, it might be a good idea to check your final PDF files in acroread using File->Properties. Remember to ensure: (i) no Type 3 fonts appear and (ii) all fonts are embedded.

Writing Guidelines

2009-10-27T17:01:08Z

MediaWiki default:

== Embed Fonts in PDF Files ==

It is required by IEEE, ACM and many other publishers that all fonts are embedded in the document. Embedding fonts is important in order to make the document look and print in the same way the authors intended on different systems.

* Easiest Way (if you are using TeXnicCenter): Download [http://nsl.cs.sfu.ca/resources/latexPDF_profile.tco this Output Profile] and import it in your TeXnicCenter system (Build --> Define Output Profiles --> Import ...). Always compile your document with that profile.
* Or you can use the following argument line for ps2pdf post processor (in the profile editor of TeXnicCenter)
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite -q -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dSAFER -dPDFX -dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress
-dAutoFilterColorImages=false -dColorImageFilter=/FlateEncode
-dAutoFilterGrayImages=false -dGrayImageFilter=/FlateEncode -sOutputFile="%bm.pdf"
-c save pop -f "%bm.ps"
* You can use the following script with Ghostscript (original source of the script is [http://www.daniel-lemire.com/blog/archives/2005/08/29/getting-pdflatex-to-embed-all-fonts/ here].) Of course change the "outFile.pdf" and "inputFile.pdf" to your files.
gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -q -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dSAFER \
-dPDFX \
-dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress \
-dAutoFilterColorImages=false -dColorImageFilter=/FlateEncode \
-dAutoFilterGrayImages=false -dGrayImageFilter=/FlateEncode \
-sOutputFile=outFile.pdf \
-c `> setdistillerparams` \
-f inputFile.pdf \
-c quit

== Exporting Matlab Figure in The "Right" Dimension ==

* The following scripts set labels and legend into Latex mode, and fix the figure size.
Two figures in a row:
set(gca,'FontSize',18)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 18);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.6 .6 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);
% it repeats here -- matlab does not resize figure properly with only run of the script
set(gca,'FontSize',18)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 18);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 18);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.6 .6 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);

Three figures in a row:
set(gca,'FontSize',20)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(gca,'TickDir','out')
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 20);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.65 .65 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);
% it repeats here -- matlab does not resize figure properly with only run of the script
set(gca,'FontSize',20)
set(gca, 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(gca,'TickDir','out')
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'xlabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(get(gca, 'ylabel'), 'FontSize', 20);
set(legend(), 'interpreter', 'latex');
set(legend(), 'FontName', 'Times New Roman');
set(legend(), 'FontSize', 20);
set(gcf, 'WindowStyle', 'normal');
set(gca, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gca, 'Position', [.65 .65 4.6 3.125]);
set(gcf, 'Unit', 'inches');
set(gcf, 'Position', [0.25 2.5 5.5 4.05]);

== Exporting Microsoft Visio Drawings to EPS ==

To convert Visio-drawn figures to EPS files preserving their vector format, the following options are suggested. The first one, which is more recommended, is to print the Visio image into a PDF file using a PDF printer such as [http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ PDFCreator], and convert the PDF file to EPS. The use of [http://www.imagemagick.org/download/binaries/ ImageMagick] for converting PDF to EPS is recommended. The second option is to save the Visio image as a WMF or EMF (Windows-specific vector image formats), and then convert it to EPS using a software called [http://www.projectory.de/emftoeps/index.html EMF2EPS]. The software requires a PostScript Printer Driver, such as [http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=pdrv&platform=win Adobe's]. Note that printing the Visio file directly to EPS using this printer does not preserve the vector format of the images. All of the softwares mentioned are free.

== Math Symbols in xfig Figures ==

* There are a couple of other ways to typeset mathematical formulas in figures generated by xfig. We present one straightforward approach. Please read [http://web.engr.oregonstate.edu/~kaj/ltxtips.html#Figures the original page] , where steps 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 are mandatory. Others are optional. We summarize it as follows.

# First you're in Xfig. Write equations or characters in the schematic. You need $ in both sides, eg, $\phi$.
# Press the "Edit" icon and turn on the Special flag.
# Export the figure into Combined Postscript/LaTeX instead of the usual Encapsulated postscript (EPS) .
# Add \usepackage{epsfig} to your preamble.
# You might need to add \usepackage{color} to your preamable
# When storing fig files in a different from tex files, you need to manually modify pstex_t files whenever you export them. E.g.. I have to change \epsfig{file=coverage.pstex}% into \epsfig{file=../fig/coverage.pstex}%.
# Write the following command to insert your figure in TeX file:
\begin{figure}[ht]
\centering{
\resizebox{.48\textwidth}{!} {
\input{../fig/coverage.pstex_t}
}
}
\caption{Test.} \label{fig:test}
\end{figure}

== Extract Raw Data Points from An Existing Matlab Fig File ==

* To extract data points from an existing Matlab fig file:
hl = findobj(gca,'type','line');
xx = get(hl,'xdata');
yy = get(hl,'ydata');

== Avoid Type 3 Font in xfig Figures ==

* If we use 'Pattern' to fill an object, the resulting eps fil will have Type 3 fonts, which cause problems in the PDF file and will not be accepted by many publishers. Use 'Filled' with 100% instead.
* Alternatively, a patch for xfig/transfig can be found [http://konstantin.shemyak.com/sw/ here]. With a patched xfig, we can generate Type 3 font free eps files with patterns. It is, however, reported that these eps files do not look good in ghostscript PS readers.
* The xfig on nsl/nsl-cpu has been patched. However, it might be a good idea to check your final PDF files in acroread using File->Properties. Remember to ensure: (i) no Type 3 fonts appear and (ii) all fonts are embedded.