Realizing the full potential of the information infrastructure requires building distributed applications in which the capabilities of these myriad devices are harnessed together. The Internet applications of today connect devices (i.e., connecting my browser with the CNN server). The Internet applications of the future will connect environments (i.e., proposer's office with the CNN newsroom). High-performance futuristic distributed applications will employ scores of media streams in conjunction with other types of information (e.g., 3D geometry, control information, structured XML documents, etc.). The networking challenges presented by these applications are fundamentally different than traditional client/server applications. They are characterized by:
Multiple, semantically related flows of information. Distributed application architectures. Complex adaptive behaviors. Extensibility and composability. Large bandwidth-delay products.
Futuristic distributed applications are difficult to build because current networking infrastructures do not support their characteristic multistream architecture. Doing so is important because these types of applications (e.g., distance learning, tele-medicine, etc.) are most effective when all of the devices in an environment contribute to a rich and immersive experience. The proposed research addresses the networking challenges presented by futuristic distributed multiflow applications. The research will focus on the problems that arise when managing multiple semantically related flows of data within an application. Exploiting high-level semantic relationships between flows is important for achieving application-level goals and appropriately allocating limited network resources. Components of our approach to this problem include:
Building protocols informed by both aggregate application behavior and the state of related peer flows. Experimenting with network mechanisms integrated across levels of the networking stack. Specifically targeting distributed architectures in which applications are implemented across multiple devices. Enabling distributed application-driven adaptation which exploits high-level semantic relationships between flows. Developing data type (i.e. video, audio, geometry, etc.) representations that are more congruent with underlying protocol dynamics. Demonstrating the effectiveness of multistreaming (i.e., transmitting complex media types in multiple flows possibly employing different protocols).
