ISWN (Integrated Services Wireless Network)
Richard Akester
The expression "integrated services" generally refers to the
combination of data and audio/video services over the same network, and is a
subject that has been studied for decades. Still, the divergent network
requirements of these types of information means that no clear answers have
emerged as to the best way to carry such streams. With the 802.11 wireless
LAN standard appealing to both pure data users (for its replacement for
wired local nets), and consumer electronics companies (for its capacity to
carry multimedia), questions are again raised as to its suitability to carry
both of these data types simultaneously.
This seminar will present the speaker's experience of running DVB-T TV
streams over an 802.11 network, demonstrating some of the pitfalls and
unexpected problems which emerge. It will become clear that streaming high
quality, high bandwidth TV over an 802.11 wireless network is itself
extremely difficult, let alone mixing this with other data streams while
preserving the QoS of the TV streams. Some examples of current proposals for
extensions to the 802.11 standard to enable integrated services will also be
presented.
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