Exploiting Social Interactions in Mobile Systems

This paper discusses a scheduling algorithm for the construction of bluetooth scatternets from existing piconets. A piconet is a collection of slaves controlled by a single master. The scatternet is the collation of multiple piconets.

Their proposed algorithm serves for the scheduling of both piconets and scatternets. It operates on the efficient simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation gradient estimates (SPSA). In both cases they calculate the optimal threshold queue length values for allocating time slots to polled slaves. They then apply a heuristic for polling slaves that apparently provides significant performance gains.

I do not think this project has substantial level of relevance to our project. We are not experimenting with scatternets. Also the bluetooth networks that we will be working with in the context of gaming will be relatively small making a scatternet somewhat unnecessary.

http://dl.acm.org.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/citation.cfm?id=1872874

An efficient algorithm for scheduling in bluetooth piconets and scatternets

This paper discusses a scheduling algorithm for the construction of bluetooth scatternets from existing piconets. A piconet is a collection of slaves controlled by a single master. The scatternet is the collation of multiple piconets.

Their proposed algorithm serves for the scheduling of both piconets and scatternets. It operates on the efficient simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation gradient estimates (SPSA). In both cases they calculate the optimal threshold queue length values for allocating time slots to polled slaves. They then apply a heuristic for polling slaves that apparently provides significant performance gains.

I do not think this project has substantial level of relevance to our project. We are not experimenting with scatternets. Also the bluetooth networks that we will be working with in the context of gaming will be relatively small making a scatternet somewhat unnecessary.

http://dl.acm.org.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/citation.cfm?id=1872874

WCA: A Weighted Clustering Algorithm for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

The paper opens with a description of the demand and current state of mobile ad hoc networks. They then address their product, that is, a weighted clustering algorithm or WCA. They use this to restructure mobile adhoc networks when they determine the clusterheads, the most connected nodes, in a network. This algorithm determines the weight of paths between nodes for the purpose of increasing or lessening load levels. Its heuristics take into account a surprising number of variables including: ideal degree, transmission power, mobility, and battery power. It only triggers when it is needed, so as to not constantly restructure the network. It seems that in further distributing the load of the network, there comes a loss of connectivity.

This has a reasonably high degree of relevance to our project. Their algorithm takes into account many factors that are pertinent to mobile bluetooth gaming as players dropping and rejoining will necessitate a reorganization of their connections. Although in its current state, our system features a network where each node connects to every possible node.

http://www.springerlink.com.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/content/knme635wbqmhvpx5/

WiFi and Bluetooth fight for bandwidth

This paper discusses the conflict that has arisen as a result of wifi and bluetooth operating on very similar bandwidths. They are close enough that they can often interfere with each other when used in closer proximity. While both experience interference as a result of this clash, bluetooth is far less succeptable. At most ranges between competing devices, bluetooth is relatively unaffected, but at ranges near 2cm severely dampens all bluetooth throughput. To get around this bluetooth has developed adaptive frequency hopping. Doing this they send test packets to detect congested frequencies and change paths to avoid collision. Wifi does not have this. But at close ranges it is a problem for both parties.

Techniques are being developed currently to allow bluetooth and wifi devices to exist in very close proximity. The most readily occurring of which was having the device, at driver level, control which was being broadcast. That way one radio device will be shut down while the other is broadcasting. This limits throughput however.

The paper did not contain a great deal of relevance to our project, as we are dealing with interactions of bluetooth devices at range, not optimizing hardware level issues. It was, however, interesting to note that bluetooth and wifi compete at all. It was a fact previously unknown to me.

http://www.edn.com/article/470440-WiFi_and_Bluetooth_fight_for_bandwidth.php

Social Networks and Mobile Games: The Use of Bluetooth for a Multiplayer Card Game

  This paper aimed to ascertain the social dimensions of multiplayer gaming. They conducted this experiment by designing the game BELKA. BELKA is a card game that was played both with physical cards in one test, and with HP Ipaq's in another. In the virtual gaming scenario, the users were allowed to move about the testing room.
  The interesting finding of this study was that a user's position relative to the bulk of the group can and did affect game play. They found that on average if a player was further from the table they made fewer moves. Basically the communal element of face to face gaming encourages the gaming activity itself.

http://www.springerlink.com.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/content/q43d1ywux09rrn77/fulltext.pdf

Mobile Multiplayer Gaming

                This paper aims to collect and analyze statistical data on U.S. gamer populations. In recent years, the gaming industry has exploded. The revenue from the gaming industry amounted to 7 billion dollars in the U.S. alone.  Surprisingly the average purchaser of games is 40 years old. About 69 percent of heads of households in the U.S. play some form of computer game.

                There are two dominant demographics for any gaming genre, casual and hardcore. They are distinct in that casual players spend a fraction of their spare time gaming whereas hardcore gamers spend most of their spare time playing. Hardcore gamers represent only about a fourth of the gaming population. While they are not the largest source of revenue for the gaming industry, in the case of online games, they contribute most to the spread of a game’s reputation via forum participation. This is not the case with the emerging mobile gaming market where most games are popularized by word of mouth.

                The author conducted a study to analyze the potential of the various technologies available for multiplayer gaming. He concluded that UMTS/WCDMA, with its coverage of 80% of the EU population would be the most likely candidate for future developments. With its low packet loss and latency, and the ability for providers to vary quality of service based on subscription, this technology seems ideal for mobile gaming.

                It seems that with the expanding capabilities of mobile networks those providers are seeking to take a share of the pc market. UMTS/WCDMA networks are apparently empty of traffic, due to the low general requirements of mobile use. They are capitalizing on this fact and have begun disseminating UMTS/WCDMA routers in the hopes that pc gamers will begin to utilize the same resources as mobile platforms.  The author’s study concluded that these technologies would be suitable for genres such as RTS and MMORPG’s, but FPS’s are slightly out of scope. There are also issues with scaling based on the number of players in a game. These issues may be remedied; the emerging HSPDA offers substantially better latencies rendering some of these hurdles obsolete.

 

http://web.it.kth.se/~maguire/DEGREE-PROJECT-REPORTS/070624-Christian_Westermark-thesis-with-cover.pdf

Supporting RealTime Applications in Mobile Mesh Networks

 This paper concerns the organizational framework that is needed for the effective use of wireless ad-hoc networks. More specifically, the authors address the details of service lookup and provision. They have provided as an experimental solution, SIRAMON, a generic, decentralized service provisioning framework for mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs).

The authors begin with a description of the problem they are addressing. Current techniques for service provision do not account for the conditions in a MANET. Firstly, they typically address only on a subset of the functionality required for resource provision. Also, they typically rely on a client-server model that uses a central, fixed infrastructure. This is not an available luxury in a mesh network. In a MANET the framework must be able to account for a high level of device heterogeneity, and limited device resources.

SIRAMON has modularized each of the service provisioning phases to allow for the easy alteration of the middleware. In this manner application, or environment specific functions may replace those currently implemented if there is a perceived benefit. SIRAMON utilizes a hierarchical service identifier tree. Specific services are depicted as leaf nodes. Actual service descriptors are implemented with XML. Service labels are composed of Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). For example
siramon://Service/Entertainment/Games/Multiplayer/RealTime/DeathMatch 
would describe a service located by SIRAMON called DeathMatch which would have its own XML descriptors. Using this URI, they are able to allow users to do complete and partial lookups. For example a search for RealTime games might also return other results found in Multiplayer.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5643647

 

Real-World Distributed Computer with Ibis

   Interest has grown in recent years, in establishing a means for world-wide computation. This is the motivation behind the development of computational clouds. The researchers at Vrije University in Amsterdam are looking for a solution in their software known as Ibis.
   Ibis employs an integrated system seeking to ease the process of both programming and distributing these computationally difficult applications. Ibis provides a communication library, the Ibis Portability Layer (IPL), and a deployment system. The deployment system consists of a GUI and a library for deploying applications implemented with the Java Grid Application Toolkit (JavaGAT). Ibis has been designed to be highly portable. It follows the paradigm that any application should be compiled once, then run everywhere on the distributed system. Using Java virtual machine technology, they are able to operate in most execute environments. This system is able to dynamically reassign tasks when a resource crashes, as well as redistribute workloads when new resources are added. All the many features of Ibis come with some level of computational overhead, but it is minimal when compared with the runtime of the tasks it is designed to handle.
   Ibis has already received use from notable institutions like INRIA, Jylab, and the Barcelona Super Computer Center. This project is of particular interest because despite the fact that a mobile phone could not operate the entirity of Ibis, it was able to utilize the multimedia servers to obtain a result from transmitting an image in 3 seconds. This software suite has the potential for use in many aspects of computing, and they are presently working on integrating with accelerators with GPU's that would open new avenues of development.

Bal, H.E.; Maassen, J.; van Nieuwpoort, R.V.; Drost, N.; Kemp, R.; van Kessel, T.; Palmer, N.; Wrzesińska, G.; Kielmann, T.; van Reeuwijk, K.; Seinstra, F.J.; Jacobs, C.J.H.; Verstoep, K.; , "Real-World Distributed Computer with Ibis," Computer , vol.43, no.8, pp.54-62, Aug. 2010
doi: 10.1109/MC.2010.184
URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5492667&isnumber=5551033

Opportunistic Communication for Multiplayer Mobile Gaming: Lessons Learned from PhotoShoot

   In this paper the authors describe their prototype for mobile “opportunistic communication” called Ibis. Ibis is a middleware that attempts to generate ad-hoc communication between phones without the need for a centralized server. The authors enumerate the faults of the current use of centralized servers for mobile gaming, stating that there are a variety of other means that are simply not utilized. Ibis attempts to make use of all those available. The software attempts to bind to any available network, and allows for communication between arbitrary numbers of send and receive ports. Ibis is evidently lightweight, so we can surmise that the power consumption is low on the hosting phone, though no comment is made to this effect. There are few implementation details discussed aside from the fact that most everything is performed ad-hoc.

   Also covered in the paper is a small game designed to use the Ibis system. The authors call it PhotoShoot. It is a two-player dueling game wherein the users attempt to snap a photo of the other’s face, after pacing off from eachother, within a certain timeframe using a limited number of shots. The face recognition component of the game was limited to the area of the augmented reality reticle located in the center of a user’s screen. This was done in order to cut back on computationally expensive face recognition. User studies showed that the game performed well, though further development to Ibis  must be done to allow it to handle inadvertent disconnects. On a side note, Ibis was originally developed for High Performance Distributed Computing.

Roelof Kemp, Nicholas Palmer, Thilo Kielmann, and Henri Bal. 2010. Opportunistic communication for multiplayer mobile gaming: lessons learned from PhotoShoot. In Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Mobile Opportunistic Networking (MobiOpp '10). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 182-184. DOI=10.1145/1755743.1755780 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1755743.1755780

Understanding Android Security

   This paper concerned itself with educating the public of the existing security paradigms in Android applications and the reasons for their implementation. It opens with a rather extended example of a “friend finding” application, and is followed by a short summary of Android components. An Activity defines the user interface, and only one is allowed screen and processing resources at one time. Service defines a component that performs background processing after an activity has ended. Content Providers are databases that may be accessed via SQL queries. The final type is Broadcast Receivers which handle the communication between applications.

   For the most part inter-component communication or ICC is handled by the examination of security permissions labels that are located in a security manifest document. Here users may explicity state whether each component is private, public, or requiring a specific permission. All defined permission policies are set at install time and cannot be changed without a reinstall. Most components including broadcasts have only one permissions label to be defined by the developer. Content Providers have two to allow for both read and write permissions control. There is also a tertiary feature called service hooks which allow developers to define additional security measures within their coding. This is particularly useful in the case of a Service, which is only allowed one permission label to govern both starting, stopping, and rebinding the component.

    These permissions are themselves protected by application levels attributed to them. These are namely “system”, “normal”, “dangerous”, and “signature”. System level permissions are required to modify the telephony API. Normal permissions are public and distributed to any application that requests them. Dangerous permissions are granted to a user only after they successfully identify themselves. Signature permissions are only granted when an application is “signed by the same developer key as the package defining the permission.” 

Enck, W.; Ongtang, M.; McDaniel, P.; , "Understanding Android Security," Security & Privacy, IEEE , vol.7, no.1, pp.50-57, Jan.-Feb. 2009
doi: 10.1109/MSP.2009.26
URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4768655&isnumber=4768640