Towards an Architecture for Real-Time Heterogeneous Data Dissemination

Abstract

The popularity of the Internet and cellular networks in recent years has led to widespread use of these networks for data dissemination. Advancements in wireless communications networks like Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G networks indicate a trend towards higher speed mobile networks accessed by users with increasingly sophisticated mobile devices. These advancements do not include the means for users to leverage increased wireless network transmission rates by disseminating heterogeneous data. The ability to share heterogeneous data entirely through mobile networks illustrates a communications methodology where end users determine what data will be shared with no limitations based on content. Advances in this domain have introduced many aspects of this methodology on a global scale but have not addressed how heterogeneous data can be defined and distributed by end users.

This thesis proposes a communications architecture for the dissemination of heterogeneous data in real-time. The implementation of this communications architecture is based on the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and proposes modifications to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to permit the distribution of heterogeneous data through synchronous and asynchronous data transmission. A communications protocol is introduced defining a broker, data consumers, data producers and a message format. Algorithms for session management and packet processing are provided in an embedded system called the Reconfigurable Multimedia Collaborative System (RMCS). Results for the communications architecture demonstrate the successful generation and transmission of heterogeneous data in real-time using the proposed modifications to SIP. The successful operation of packet generation algorithms and related functions in hardware is also provided to demonstrate the means through which this architecture could be provided through hardware for optimal performance and to facilitate its implementation into mobile devices.