The objective of this proposal is to advance the state-of-the-art of distributed multimedia systems in both research and education. A novel approach for managing heterogeneous resources in a shared distributed multimedia network is presented, called multiclass relative Quality-of Service. The research agenda concentrates on the exploration od this approach, the design and evaluation of traffic control algorithms, and their implementation and empirical evaluation in a testbed network. The education agenda is focused on the use of multimedia technology to innovate education. The research and education agenda will: 1) develop new approaches for resource management in distributed multimedia systems that can operate in a shared network environment. A new service model, called multi-class relative Quality-of-Service, is proposed. Different from existing service models for multimedia networks, the proposed service model can satisfy service requirements of most delay-sensitive multimedia applications, yet can be realized in the current infrastructure of shared network resources. 2) design and analyze novel traffic control algorithms for resource management in multimedia networks with multi-class relative Quality of-Service. The proposed research includes development and evaluation of flow control methods for relative Quality-of-Service, approaches to cope with dynamically changing resource management policies, and new routing algorithms. 3) design, implement, and experimentally evaluate new protocol mechanisms for resource management in distributed multimedia systems. By implementing the mechanisms as extensions to currently used network protocols, existing networks can gradually evolve to an environment with Quality-of-Service guarantees. 4) gain insight in and evaluate the use of interactive multimedia for education. An interactive tele-tutoring tool, already partially realized by the PI, that enables teachers and students to interact over a campus network, will provide an experimental platform to study the use of interactive multimedia tools for teaching. 5) contribute to the establishment of `multimedia' as a main area of an education in computer science. This includes the development of a project-oriented senior level course in multimedia systems that uses multimedia classrooms available at the institution.
