Real-time performance guarantees over wired/wireless LANs

Distributed audio and video applications require end to end performance guarantees from the underlying networks for smooth delivery of real time media streams. The end to end nature dictates that real time support be built into both wide area and local area networks. With the enormous growth of portable computers equipped with networking capabilities, it is important to develop real time protocols for wireless LAN technologies, such that real time audio/video communication services can be extended to these mobile terminals as well. The paper describes the implementation effort of supporting end to end performance guarantees over a heterogeneous local area network comprising of both wired and wireless LAN segments. The work also addresses the performance guarantee issues associated with terminal mobility in the wireless segments.