Application level resource management for the IEEE 1394 serial bus
Date
2001
Authors
Foxgord, John Ross
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Abstract
The IEEE 1394 standard defines a serial data-bus which is well suited to the transmission of real-time media data between devices within the home entertainment environment. A 1394 network can support multiple high-bandwidth media sources, while also accommodating asynchronous messaging. While a fair-share scheme is specified for the scheduling of asynchronous messages, the bandwidth and related resources used for the streaming of isochronous data are freely acquired by the individual media applications. Therefore, isochronous resources are acquired in a first-come-first-served fashion and the devices which cannot acquire the necessary resources will not commence transmission.
We address these inefficiencies by shifting from the anarchic acquisition of resources to a centralized management scheme which allocates resources based on the individual requirements of applications and the common management goals of the network. For robustness, if the node that houses the manager fails , then another node can assume the management responsibility after a bus reset. Khan 's Utility Model is employed to address our requirements for resource management and application adaptation. Our approach to these challenges can be classified as Application Level Resource Management.
This thesis presents the design and implementation of network management tools for IEEE 1394 based on the principles of the Utility Model. These tools consist of a centralized resource manager and distributed client management components. An OPNET simulation of the IEEE 1394 network with our added management components illustrate the possible efficiency gains in the context of a residential environment. The simulation also verifies our approach for transporting the management information between client and manager components. We conclude by proposing several directions for future work.