NPS IIRG: INET '96 Proposal (fwd)

[Don Brutzman <[e-mail]>]

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For your consideration.  Thanks.

http://www.stl.nps.navy.mil/~iirg/atm/inet96/proposal.html

all the best, Don
--
Don Brutzman  Naval Postgraduate School, Code UW/Br Root 200  work 408.656.2149
              Monterey California 93943-5000 USA              fax  [phone]
Virtual worlds/underwater robots/Internet http://www.stl.nps.navy.mil/~brutzman

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                         [|I|N|E|T '96 -- Montreal]

                   INET 96 Live/Archived Global Multicast

             Workshop on Primary and Secondary (K-12) Education
           Workshop on Network Technology for Developing Countries

                             A proposal by the

              Information Infrastructure Research Group (IIRG)

                           [e-mail]
                         Naval Postgraduate School
                          Monterey, California USA

Submitted to:

   *  Internet Society Board of Trustees
   *  INET 96 Program Committee ([e-mail])

Copies to:

   *  Kathy M. Rutkowksi ([e-mail]), K-12 Education Workshop
   *  George Sadowsky ([e-mail]), ISOC VP for Education
   *  Larry Press ([e-mail]), Developing Nations Networking Workshop
   *  Elise Boisjoly ([e-mail]), K-12 Education Workshop
   *  Richard Perlman ([e-mail]), K-12 Education
     Workshop
   *  Carl Malamud ([e-mail]), Internet 1996 World Exposition
   *  IETF Internet School Networking (ISN) Working Group
     ([e-mail])
   *  Internet Society Network Technology Workshop ([e-mail])

Abstract

We hope to provide live and archived audio/video coverage of selected events
at the INET 96 conference. Our main sessions of interest are the Workshop on
Primary and Secondary (K-12) Education and a single track of the Workshop on
Network Technology for Developing Countries.

Live and archived coverage of conferences can be tremendously valuable in
disseminating information to people who need it. However, global multicasts
and archiving are only feasible if they are inexpensive and easy. We will
show what is currently possible. Free software tools and off-the-shelf
technology will be used throughout. By multicasting and recording at both
moderate and high frame rates, we expect to maximize connectivity and
usefulness for both high-powered and moderately equipped sites.

This project will be part of the Internet 1996 World Exposition by using
global high-speed Internet Protocol (IP) links of the Internet Railroad and
long-term massive disk storage of Central Park. We are also investigating
potential global use of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) links using the
International Wide-Area Year (I-WAY) North American ATM wide-area network
(WAN). Low-speed live Internet distribution will be via the Multicast
Backbone (MBone). We hope to augment live coverage from Montreal with
interactive sessions by remote attendees around the world. Finally, we plan
to publicly document our efforts by contributing a conference paper to the
INET 96 Internet Learning and Teaching track. This work is a group capstone
project to be described in detail via printed and online master's theses.

The purpose of this proposal is to present our plan and request necessary
support for travel and equipment.

Project Summary

   *  Goal: provide live and archived audio/visual coverage of INET '96
     education and developing nations workshops. Distribution will be global
     using ATM and the Internet.

   *  Period of proposed demonstration: June 16-28 1996.

   *  Detailed objectives
        o  Live multicast at high and moderate bandwidths
        o  Direct archiving of audio/video to disk at high and moderate
          frame rates
        o  Use Internet Railroad and I-WAY ATM for global connectivity
        o  Show topics of interest to people worldwide (K-12 Education and
          Developing Nations Workshops)
        o  Low cost, repeatable, well-documented
        o  Monitor and evaluate global network performance for IP and ATM
          unicast/multicast traffic

   *  Component technology
        o  Global IP using Internet Railroad and MBone
        o  To-be-determined combination of ATM, IP-ATM, multicast, gigabit
          routing
        o  MBone-compatible archival audio/video digitization for on-demand
          retrieval
        o  Network monitoring to ensure proper delivery

   *  Resource requirements
        o  $46,000 equipment ($157,000 matching equipment by NPS)
        o  $30,000 travel
        o  $76,000 needed total

     We need either funds or sponsors to execute this plan.

Background and Motivation

The possibility of multicasting the K-12 Education and Developing Nations
Networking Workshop was first discussed at INET 95 by Don Brutzman with
Kathy Rutkowski, Carl Malamud, Larry Press, George Sadowsky and others. Our
primary motivation throughout has been to make priceless content and expert
presentations widely available to Internet users.

The Information Infrastructure Research Group (IIRG) at the U.S. Naval
Postgraduate School includes numerous master's students working on theses
that apply directly to the advancement of education over the Internet. For
this project, the goal of our group is to investigate and demonstrate how
high-bandwidth IP, Asychronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Multicast Backbone
(MBone) and digitized audio/video can be used for distance learning. An
additional motivation for our proposal is to demonstrate research results by
applying these technologies to educational events of significant global
value: the K-12 Education and Developing Nations Networking Workshops.

The principal benefit of this demonstration will be to show how audio and
video over the Internet can easily be used for educational purposes. The
MBone has already been proven to be a valuable educational tool.
Nevertheless very few multicast programs have been made available for
on-demand retrieval, and none have yet taken advantage of the emerging
high-bandwidth global infrastructure. By INET 96 we expect to be able to do
both in a well-documented, repeatable fashion.

Specific Objectives

In order to achieve our demonstration goals, several separate tasks need to
be accomplished. All of the objectives described are being investigated by
individual NPS master's students.

Objective 1: Global Connectivity Using the Internet Railroad and Asychronous
Transfer Mode (ATM)

The Internet Railroad is a recent development that hopes to augment the
limited capacity of the Internet MBone. Asychronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
connectivity can also be used. Our long-term goals include the use of both
IP and ATM in large-scale virtual environments with massive participation
including multiple data streams such as audio, video, text, image, computer
graphics and virtual reality applications. Our initial investigations have
shown that the topology of a global high-speed backbone is not yet clear,
but some combination of IP and ATM is likely. Consequently we have been
studying practical aspects of using ATM.

The Information Wide Area Year (I-WAY) is an experimental high-performance
network linking dozens of North America's fastest computers and advanced
visualization environments. This network is based on Asynchronous Transfer
Mode (ATM) technology, an emerging standard for advanced telecommunications
networks. The I-WAY wide-area network (WAN) supports both TCP/IP over ATM
and direct ATM-oriented protocols. This network provides the wide-area
high-performance backbone for various experimental networking activities. It
was built from a combination of existing network connectivity and some
additional connectivity and services provided by multiple service providers.
We intend to use the I-WAY together with the Internet Railroad for
distributing the INET96 sessions world-wide.

Objective 2: Live Multicast Backbone (MBone) at High & Low Bandwidths

By use of IP-multicast, today's datagram networks are able to support
applications which require real-time delivery of data to multiple
destinations, such as video conferencing or video distribution. Asynchronous
Transfer Mode (ATM) is a new technology that is designed for both data
transfer and low-latency audio-video applications. ATM promises a
high-bandwidth, versatile communication technology useful for standard
audio-video signals as well as computer networking. In some instances ATM
provides more functionality than current data link technologies, in other
instances ATM is currently inferior. As researchers interested in global
information infrastructure, we are most interested in what works. We want to
take advantage of the higher bandwidths and lower latency offered by ATM and
other links in order to send audio/video over the Internet.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is in its infancy. The hardware required
for ATM is currently more expensive than the hardware required to implement
traditional shared-media packet-switching networks. Today, computer networks
use many different data-link technologies. Most computer networks will use
TCP/IP protocols for the foreseeable future. Currently an experimental
IETF-coordinated approach is to run IP over ATM. Hopefully this will allow
us to effectively and compatibly take advantage of the higher bandwidths
provided by ATM. Presumably IP-multicast is one of the protocols that might
benefit from compatibility with ATM. The current draft specifications for
ATM do not directly provide many-many functionality for IP-multicast. Most
ATM-multicast specifications are still in draft form. Experimentation will
also help us better understand the methods discussed in these draft
documents.

Our goal is to investigate the use of IP-multicast in combination with ATM
in order to distribute live, high-bandwidth & low-bandwidth video
world-wide.

Objective 3: Direct Archiving of Audio/Video to Disk at Multiple Frame Rates

The Multicast Backbone (MBone) already provides the ability to send and
receive near-real-time audio and video over the Internet. We plan to
transmit and digitally record the K-12 and the Developing Nations Workshops
so they are made available for on-demand retrieval over the Internet. The
primary approach to be attempted is to use MBone-compatible audio/video
software tools. Our hope is that such recordings will then be playable using
public domain MBone software with either unicast or multicast distribution.
We will develop Web pages to facilitate client configuration and recording
retrieval. Primary computer architectures of interest are those widely used
today (e.g. Unix workstations/PC's/Mac's). A large (10 GB) local disk store
will be used to record digital video programs as they occur, with periodic
file transfers to Central Park archives. This approach will decouple
digitization reliability from network availability. All programs will be
recorded on tape as recording backup. No postprocessing or editing of video
will be performed, audio and video sources will be mixed on-the-fly to
produce rapid, high-quality results.

Objective 4: Network Monitoring

A big problem in global multicasting is determining whether programs are
being properly delivered to recipients.

Our monitoring objective is to use public domain software tools to
accurately and efficiently monitor global ATM and IP network traffic
pertaining to these multicast sessions. Although expensive commercial
monitoring systems may be available, public domain software such as ping,
traceroute, tcpdump, mtrace and other tools can provide effective monitoring
capabilities. They adapt easily to a wide range of applications and are well
known, although the proper use of these tools requires preparation. We
intend to exercise their use both on-site and remotely once the topology of
the global IP/ATM multicast network becomes known. Most likely the
monitoring tools will be invoked via automatic scripts that will verify
functional status on a regular basis, reporting malfunctions as they occur.
We also intend to manually monitor and evaluate session transmission
quality.

Demonstration Participants

We expect to have two teams of about seven students each to produce and
distribute two weeks of program coverage. Each team will only spend one week
on site.

   *  Don Brutzman (UW/Br) ([e-mail]) Project lead
   *  Kurt Ames (CSUMB) ([e-mail]) ATM
   *  Dale Courtney (ITM) ([e-mail]) NPS ATM LAN (September 96)
   *  Jim Cummiskey (CS) ([e-mail]) mobility/wireless (October
     96)
   *  Ron Dennis (ITM) ([e-mail]) Security (September 96)
   *  Jason Dunton (CSUMB) ([e-mail]) ATM
   *  Evan Edwards (CS) ([e-mail]) Networking (September 96)
   *  Ridvan Erdogan (CS) ([e-mail]) Computer security,
     multicast, ATM, networking, LINUX (September 96)
   *  Jeff Forte (CS/ITM)([e-mail]) ATM, dual degree CS/ITM
     (September 96)
   *  Steve Graves (ITM) ([e-mail]) Videolink for helicopters
     (September 96)
   *  Abdellatif (Bob) Souktani (CSUMB/NPS ITM) ([e-mail])
     ATM, Multicast Backbone (97)
   *  Murat Tamer (CS) ([e-mail]) Computer security, ATM
     (September 96)
   *  Michael Tiddy (ITM) ([e-mail]) ATM, audio/video digital
     archives (September 96)
   *  Robin Rowe (CS staff) ([e-mail]) Video, computer graphics

Equipment Requirements

A lot of gear is needed for this project. Fortunately NPS will be able to
provide a significant amount of it. Here is the schematic of principal
equipment and how we expect to connect it.

                               [line drawing]
                            Equipment schematic.

This equipment will be enough for one high-quality session at a time. Thus
we do not expect to be able to cover two sessions simultaneously. Some
redundancy is included in order to prevent program loss if (when) hardware
failures occur.

The lists below show the equipment and resources we need to accomplish
project objectives. Another option is finding INET 96 conference sponsors
that are willing to donate or loan equipment.

We intend to have a rehearsal conference by providing similar coverage of
IEEE Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) in Monterey, June 3-6 1996.

We are not video professionals. We will practice using whatever equipment we
have in hand. We have included purchase and rental prices for equipment that
is readily available (in California and Canada). Currently it appears that
rental options are undesirable if we are to ensure maximum quality and
equipment reliability during INET 96. In any case we need all equipment by
May 1 for compatibility testing, corrective action (if any) and training.

What we can bring:

                                                   value
 4 SGI Indy workstations                         $80,000
    (video capabibility & ATM NICs)
 I-WAY I-POP workstation                          20,000
 2 uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)            2,000
 Wireless Bridge (added reliability)              10,000
 Backup ATM Switch                                22,000
 Independent mrouter (Sun 3/110)                  15,000
 3 microphones                                     1,000
 NTSC to pal/secam video converter                 2,000
 Salary, faculty plus staff (verify staff)         5,000
                                                --------
                                                $157,000

What we need:

                                                         Cost
                                                    Buy        Rent
                                                ----------------------
 4 Super VHS Cameras (production quality)         $8,000     (1,200/wk)
 1 Field Production Unit                          15,000     (1,000/wk)
     (Video Mixer with 3 Channel input and
     synchronization, character generation
     and 4 channel output.  Rental impractical)
 2 Super VHS VCR's (w/tapes)                       2,000
 2 television monitors (13")                         500
 1 audio mixer                                     1,000
 2 headphones                                        100
 3 wireless microphones                            5,000
 1 small video production light kit                  600
   assorted cabling                                  500
 3 cellular telephones                               --         300/wk
 4 headset radios for camera operators (verify)      --       1,200/wk
   local disk storage (10 gigabytes)               2,300
     for temporary storage of recorded sessions
                                                 ----------------------
                                                  35,000  +   1,500 * 2
   Unexpected equipment costs:  10%                4,000

   Shipping (must verify):                         4,000
                                                 ----------------------
   Equipment total:                              $46,000

Travel

In addition to a team of students recording each session, two individuals
need to make an advance trip to Montreal to look at recording sites, network
connectivity details, unforeseen equipment needs, local arrangements
available, conference organizer requirements etc.

                                                  3 days       7 days
  Round-trip airfare per person
  (Monterey to Montreal)                           1,050        1,050

  Lodging (Double Occupancy)      $71/room           105          245
                                  $35/person

  Per diem other than lodging     $78/day            235          546
      (standard DoD rate)
                                                  -------------------
  Estimated total travel costs (per person)       $1,400       $1,850

  Rental Car (1 Van, 1 Car)       $50/day            150          500
  (van to move equipment)        $250/week (verify)

  Advance planning trip, two people     =  2 * 1,400 +  150 =  $2,950

  Two weeks at 7 people per week        = 14 * 1,850 + 1000 = $26,900
                                                              _______
  Total estimated travel                                      $30,000



To Do

The following items will be addressed in future planning:

   *  Global network topology, especially ATM and high-speed routing
   *  Remote participants - who, how, where, when
   *  Bandwidth and power budgets
   *  Milestones and schedule
   *  Floor maps for McGill University and conference hotel room setups
   *  Other open issues? Send mail to [e-mail]

Action

We are optimistic that the Internet Society and INET 96 will be able to
connect us with appropriate funding and sponsors for this ambitious and
unique effort. We will continue to make every effort to minimize cost and
maximize the many benefits which are expected. We are very enthusiastic
about the tremendous value this project can bring to Internet users
world-wide.

I look forward to continued dialog and future support to achieve these
goals.

all the best, Don

--
Don Brutzman  Naval Postgraduate School, Code UW/Br Root 200  work 408.656.2149
              Monterey California 93943-5000 USA              fax  [phone]
Virtual worlds/underwater robots/Internet http://www.stl.nps.navy.mil/~brutzman

Previous Work

Additional detail is provided in home pages for the Information
Infrastructure Research Group (IIRG), IIRG ATM projects and IIRG INET 96
project.

Brutzman, Donald P., Macedonia, Michael R. and Zyda, Michael J.,
"Internetwork Infrastructure Requirements for Virtual Environments," First
Annual Symposium on the Virtual Reality Modeling Language, Association for
Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics
(SIGGRAPH), San Diego Supercomputer Center, San Diego California, December
13-15 1995, pp. 95-104. Available at
http://www.stl.nps.navy.mil/~brutzman/vrml/vrml_95.html with associated
slides at http://www.stl.nps.navy.mil/~brutzman/vrml/vrml_95.slides.html

Interactive Communities, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special
Interest Group on Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH) 95, Los Angeles California,
August 7-11 1995. "MBone unplugged" cart provided mobile MBone connectivity
for sixty exhibits and courses to create a week-long KSIG-TV. Available at
http://www.stl.nps.navy.mil/~brutzman/unplugged.html

Brutzman, Donald P., "Remote Collaboration with Monterey Bay Educators,"
Interactive Communities Visual Proceedings, Association for Computing
Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH 95),
Los Angeles California, August 7-11 1995, p. 145.

Brutzman, Donald P., "Networked Ocean Science Research and Education,
Monterey Bay California," INET 95: Fifth Annual Conference of the Internet
Society , Honolulu Hawaii, June 27-30 1995. Available at
http://www.isoc.org/HMP/PAPER/039/abst.html and
ftp://taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil/pub/i3laisoc.html

Richard W. Hamming, "Learning to Learn: The Future of Science and
Engineering." Course EC 4000. This was the first successful multicast of an
entire university course worldwide, three times per week for eleven weeks,
April-June 1995. R.W. Hamming is recipient of the ACM Turing Prize as well
as namesake and recipient of the IEEE Hamming Medal.

Emswiler, Tracey, Internetworking: Using the Multicast Backbone (MBone) for
Distance Learning, Master's Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey
California, September 95. Summary video of multicasting the Hamming lecture
series available at ftp://taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil/pub/i3la/emswiler.qt.Z

Trepanier, Dennis, Internetworking: Designing Network Information and
Operations Services for Monterey BayNet, Master's Thesis, Naval Postgraduate
School, Monterey California, September 95. Available at
http://www.stl.nps.navy.mil/~dmtrepan/thesis.html

Bigelow, Randall J., Internetworking: Planning and Implementing a Wide-Area
Network (WAN) for K-12 Schools, Master's Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School,
Monterey California, June 95. Describes in detail how local-area networks
(LANs) and WANs were implemented to connect two dozen K-12 schools to the
Internet. Available at http://www.stl.nps.navy.mil/~rjbigelo/thesis.html

Rhyne, Theresa Marie, Brett, George, Brutzman, Don, Cox, Donna J. and
Santos, Adelino, "Exploiting Networks for Visualization and Collaboration:
No Network Roadblocks?," discussion panel, Association for Computing
Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH) 94,
Orlando Florida, July 24-29, 1994, pp. 481-482.

Macedonia, Michael R. and Brutzman, Donald P., "MBone Provides Audio and
Video Across the Internet," IEEE COMPUTER, vol. 27 no. 4, April 1994, pp.
30-36. Available at ftp://taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil/pub/i3la/mbone.html or
mbone.ps

[_____________________________________________________]

The Universal Resource Locator (URL) for this home page is
http://www.stl.nps.navy.mil/~iirg/atm/inet96/proposal.html

NPS IIRG: INET '96 Proposal home page contact information: Don Brutzman
([e-mail])

(16 January 96)

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--
Don Brutzman  Naval Postgraduate School, Code UW/Br Root 200  work 408.656.2149
              Monterey California 93943-5000 USA              fax  [phone]
Virtual worlds/underwater robots/Internet http://www.stl.nps.navy.mil/~brutzman