MarconiNet: overlay mobile content distribution network

Flexible multimedia streaming, such as advertisement insertion, location-based services, mobility, and wireless access, are vital components that make existing Internet radio and TV networks more attractive to roaming users. All of these applications also provide added value to telematics and military usage, including coordination, education, situation awareness, distributed simulation, battlefield communication, and multiplayer games. While content distribution over a wired network can be realized by instituting proxies and gateways at several parts of the access network, to provide mobility over heterogeneous wireless access, we need to consider many operational issues, such as handoff, join and leave latency, and desired QoS level for mobile clients. The article discusses some application layer techniques that help build a flexible mobile content distribution overlay type network supporting a multi-tiered payment and security scheme. The proposed streaming network, called MarconiNet, is based on standard IETF protocols (e.g., SIP, SAP, SDP, RTSP, and RTP/RTCP) that help provide signaling, session announcement, session description, stream control, media delivery, and feedback control, respectively.