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Multimedia over Wireless Networks in Diverse Mobility:
To exploit the widely deployed network infrastructure,
next-generation wireless networks are envisioned to be heterogeneous
and integrate multiple broadband wireless access technologies.
Nonetheless, the network heterogeneity leads to varying network
attachments, which may be further exacerbated with high user
mobility in a vehicular environment. The provisioning of
bandwidth-demanding multimedia services becomes extremely
challenging. Adaptive QoS delivery is vital for consistent and
smooth QoS assurance. It is necessary to take advantage of
heterogeneous networking to offer ubiquitous QoS-assured multimedia
services at affordable cost. |
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Intelligent Healthcare with Interconnected Wireless Body Area Networks:
At the start of this new century, Canada faces significant aging of its population as the proportion of seniors increases more rapidly than all other age groups.
However, the advancement of our healthcare system is still lagging behind and cannot satisfy the ever-increasing demands. The shortage of healthcare and medical
resources may severely affect the health and well-being of aging population. The information and communications technologies (ICT) actually offer efficient tools to
address such challenges and improve the delivery of healthcare services.
An emerging technology referred to as wireless body area network (WBAN) has attracted considerable research attention. A WBAN consists of a set of mobile and compact interconnected sensors, either wearable or implanted into the human body, which monitor vital life signals and movements. These wireless devices transmit data from the human body to a local base station, from where the data can be forwarded to a hospital, clinic or elsewhere, real-time. |
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Cooperative Communications over Wireless Networks:
Traditionally, wireless networks are developed based on a
hierarchical infrastructure with a single-hop wireless transmission
as the last-mile access option. However, the single-hop
infrastructured wireless networks have exposed some weakness
after decades of operation. Multi-hop relay becomes a very
promising technique to overcome obstacle blocking for radio
transmissions and alleviate power limitation. As such, cooperative communications
can exploit the spatial diversity to extend coverage and enhance system capacity with a
low cost.
For example, a mobile multi-hop relay mode (MMR) is specified in IEEE 802.16j for wireless metropolitan networks (WirelessMAN), which is also termed as WiMAX for worldwide interoperability for microwave access by The WiMAX Forum. Also, the IEEE 802.11s working group is amending IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks (WLAN) with mesh networking, so that the physical layer and medium access control (MAC) layer can support both broadcast/multicast and unicast delivery over self-configuring multi-hop topologies. |
