Performance Analysis of Telecommunication Systems

Curriculum Vitae

Michael Voorhaen obtained his Masters degree in Computer Science at the University of Antwerp (magna cum laude). In September 2003, he joined the Performance Analysis of Telecommunication Systems (PATS) research group at the University of Antwerp. His Ph.D. research included work on scalability and QoS in mobile ad hoc networks. Within the European WIDENS project, he was actively involved in the development of a network architecture for rapidly deployable and scalable wireless ad-hoc communication systems for future public safety, emergency and disaster applications. In Belgium and Flanders he contributed to the GBOU Mobile, IUAP MOTION and several IBBT projects. In September 2008 he obtained his Ph.D degree ("Extensions of the Optimized Link-State Routing Protocol for Quality-of-Service and Multi- Level Routing").

He is currently working as a Lead Developer for Meshbone, a spin-off activity of the PATS research group, University of Antwerp and IBBT. He also remains actively involved with the research (IWT ANTS – AGV Navigation and Traffic System) and teaching activities (Labo Computernetwerken, Telecommunicatiesystemen) of the PATS research group.

Publications

2009

• Quality of Service through Bandwidth Reservation on Multirate Ad-hoc Wireless Networks
  M. Voorhaen, C. Blondia, R. Guimarães, L. Cerdà, J.M. Barceló & J. García
  Ad Hoc Networks Journal, Volume 7 Issue 2, p. 388-400, 2009.
  BibTeX | Abstract
  
  Bibtex:
  @JOURNAL{mvhaen08adhoc,
  author = {M. Voorhaen and C. Blondia and R. Guimar{\^a}es and L. Cerd{\`a} and J.M. Barcel{\'o} and J. Garc{\'i}a},
  title = {Quality of Service through Bandwidth Reservation on Multirate Ad-hoc Wireless Networks},
  booktitle = {Ad Hoc Networks Journal, Volume 7 Issue 2, p. 388-400},
  year = {2009},
  abstract = {Achieving QoS (Quality of Service) in Ad-hoc Wireless Networks (AWNs) has been a research topic in the last years. In this paper we describe a QoS reservation mechanism for Multirate AWNs that allows bandwidth allocation on a per flow basis. By multirate we refer to those networks where wireless nodes are able to dynamically switch among several link rates. This allows nodes to select the highest possible transmission rate for exchanging data, independently for each neighbor.
  }
  }
  
  Abstract:
  Achieving QoS (Quality of Service) in Ad-hoc Wireless Networks (AWNs) has been a research topic in the last years. In this paper we describe a QoS reservation mechanism for Multirate AWNs that allows bandwidth allocation on a per flow basis. By multirate we refer to those networks where wireless nodes are able to dynamically switch among several link rates. This allows nodes to select the highest possible transmission rate for exchanging data, independently for each neighbor.

2006

• Analyzing the Impact of Neighbor Sensing on the Performance of the OLSR protocol
  M. Voorhaen & C. Blondia
  Proceedings of 4th Intl. Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc, and Wireless Networks (WiOpt06), Boston, Massachusetts, 2006.
  BibTeX | Abstract | PDF Available
  
  Bibtex:
  @INPROCEEDINGS{voorhaen06wioptimpact,
  author = {M. Voorhaen and C. Blondia},
  title = {Analyzing the Impact of Neighbor Sensing on the Performance of the OLSR protocol},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of 4th Intl. Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc, and Wireless Networks (WiOpt06)},
  year = {2006},
  month = {APRIL},
  location = {Boston, Massachusetts},
  abstract = {This paper presents an analysis of several neighbor sensing approaches for the OLSR routing protocol. While several performance studies of OLSR proceed this work, few attention has been paid to the impact of neighbor sensing on the performance of ad hoc routing protocols. The goal of this article is to better understand how neighbor sensing can contribute to packet loss in an OLSR network and thus degrade the overall performance. Three neighbor sensing schemes are compared: the OLSR HELLO messaging protocol, Fast-OLSR and a link layer feedback scheme that uses information of the 802.11 MAC to determine lost links. To allow more detailed analysis of the events occuring in the network we initially limit our simulation setup to simple scenarios. As a result we are able to seperate the loss of packets into loss due to the the neighbor sensing mechanism used and loss due to the impact of neighbor sensing on the other protocol operations.},
  notes = {Still working on the camera ready.},
  url = {content/publications/2006/mvhaen06wiopt.pdf}
  }
  
  Abstract:
  This paper presents an analysis of several neighbor sensing approaches for the OLSR routing protocol. While several performance studies of OLSR proceed this work, few attention has been paid to the impact of neighbor sensing on the performance of ad hoc routing protocols. The goal of this article is to better understand how neighbor sensing can contribute to packet loss in an OLSR network and thus degrade the overall performance. Three neighbor sensing schemes are compared: the OLSR HELLO messaging protocol, Fast-OLSR and a link layer feedback scheme that uses information of the 802.11 MAC to determine lost links. To allow more detailed analysis of the events occuring in the network we initially limit our simulation setup to simple scenarios. As a result we are able to seperate the loss of packets into loss due to the the neighbor sensing mechanism used and loss due to the impact of neighbor sensing on the other protocol operations.

2005

• QoS Management in WIDENS Terminodes
  L. Cerdà, R. Guimarães, J.Morillo, J.M. Barceló, J. García, A. Perez-Neira, M. Realp, M. Voorhaen, C. Blondia, R. Knopp & N. Nikaein
  2nd EVEREST Workshop on Trends in Radio Resource Management, Barcelona, Spain, 2005.
  BibTeX | Abstract | PDF Available
  
  Bibtex:
  @INPROCEEDINGS{mvhaen05everest,
  author = {L. Cerd{\`a} and R. Guimar{\^a}es and J.Morillo and J.M. Barcel{\'o} and J. Garc{\'i}a and A. Perez-Neira and M. Realp and M. Voorhaen and C. Blondia and R. Knopp and N. Nikaein},
  title = {QoS Management in WIDENS Terminodes},
  booktitle = {2nd EVEREST Workshop on Trends in Radio Resource Management},
  year = {2005},
  month = {NOV},
  location = {Barcelona, Spain},
  URL = {content/publications/2005/mvhaen05everest.pdf},
  abstract = {The paper has two parts: First, we present an
  overview of the IST WIreless DEployable Network System
  (WIDENS) Project. This project aims to define an easily deployable communication system to be used by emergency services and public safety in general. In this context, users require a communication system that should not depend on pre-existent infrastructure, and could support real time applications, so that firefighters, policemen, doctors (and others) can collaborate efficiently. In order to meet these requirements, WIDENS implements a wireless ad-hoc network with Quality of Service (QoS) support. Second, the paper focuses on the QoS approach used in WIDENS. This approach is based on a bandwidth reservation scheme. Additionally, we give some simulation results showing the advantages of the reservation scheme.}
  }
  
  Abstract:
  The paper has two parts: First, we present an of the IST WIreless DEployable Network System Project. This project aims to define an easily deployable communication system to be used by emergency services and public safety in general. In this context, users require a communication system that should not depend on pre-existent infrastructure, and could support real time applications, so that firefighters, policemen, doctors (and others) can collaborate efficiently. In order to meet these requirements, WIDENS implements a wireless ad-hoc network with Quality of Service (QoS) support. Second, the paper focuses on the QoS approach used in WIDENS. This approach is based on a bandwidth reservation scheme. Additionally, we give some simulation results showing the advantages of the reservation scheme.

• MORHE: A Transparant Multi-level Routing Scheme for Ad Hoc Networks
  M. Voorhaen, E. Van de Velde & C. Blondia
  Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Mediterranean Ad Hoc Networking Workshop (MED-HOC-NET 2005), Île de Porquerolles, France, 2005.
  BibTeX | Abstract | PDF Available | Technical report (extended version)
  
  Bibtex:
  @INPROCEEDINGS{med_hoc_morhe,
  author = {M. Voorhaen, E. Van de Velde and C. Blondia},
  title = {MORHE: A Transparant Multi-level Routing Scheme for Ad Hoc Networks},
  booktitle = { Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Mediterranean Ad Hoc Networking Workshop (MED-HOC-NET 2005)},
  year = {2005},
  month = {JUN},
  location = {{\^I}le de Porquerolles, France},
  URL = {content/publications/2005/med_hoc_morhe.pdf},
  techreport = {content/publications/2005/technical_report_morhe.pdf},
  abstract = {This paper presents a transparent multi-level routing scheme, named MORHE, that improves the scalability of the OLSR protocol by exploiting the heterogeneous nature of nodes in the network. While ad hoc networks have been an active research topic over the past few years, the majority of the studies have focused on the homogeneous nature of the network. In our work we try to take a different approach by focusing on scenarios where ad hoc technology can be applied, but where we also find nodes in the network with varying capacity. The MORHE protocol makes use of nodes which have a large capacity (e.g. more energy, larger transmission range) to build something that could best be described as an ad hoc infrastructure. Nodes are grouped in clusters that need to be interconnected by specific nodes.This implies that a node no longer needs to know the entire network topology as is the case of the OLSR protocol, but only needs to maintain routes to the nodes inside its own cluster and to the other clusters.Using this approach the signalling overhead - which is one of the main reasons why OLSR is not scalable - is greatly reduced. We also introduce a simple mobility management scheme to allow nodes to roam the different ad hoc clusters.}
  }
  Abstract: We propose a MAC protocol which achieves better spatial reuse of spectrum thanks to power adjustments based on the number of neighbors in the one-hop neighborhood. Through many simulations we show that our algorithm outperforms the IEEE 802.11 standard, also in high interference environments.
  
  Abstract:
  This paper presents a transparent multi-level routing scheme, named MORHE, that improves the scalability of the OLSR protocol by exploiting the heterogeneous nature of nodes in the network. While ad hoc networks have been an active research topic over the past few years, the majority of the studies have focused on the homogeneous nature of the network. In our work we try to take a different approach by focusing on scenarios where ad hoc technology can be applied, but where we also find nodes in the network with varying capacity. The MORHE protocol makes use of nodes which have a large capacity (e.g. more energy, larger transmission range) to build something that could best be described as an ad hoc infrastructure. Nodes are grouped in clusters that need to be interconnected by specific nodes.This implies that a node no longer needs to know the entire network topology as is the case of the OLSR protocol, but only needs to maintain routes to the nodes inside its own cluster and to the other clusters.Using this approach the signalling overhead - which is one of the main reasons why OLSR is not scalable - is greatly reduced. We also introduce a simple mobility management scheme to allow nodes to roam the different ad hoc clusters. We propose a MAC protocol which achieves better spatial reuse of spectrum thanks to power adjustments based on the number of neighbors in the one-hop neighborhood. Through many simulations we show that our algorithm outperforms the IEEE 802.11 standard, also in high interference environments.

• A Reservation Scheme Satisfying Bandwidth QoS Constraints for Multirate Ad-Hoc Networks
  L. Cerdà, M. Voorhaen, R. Guimarães, J.M. Barceló, J. García & C. Blondia
  Proceedings of the IST Mobile & Wireless Communications Summit 2005, Dresden, Germany, 2005.
  BibTeX | Abstract | PDF Available
  
  Bibtex:
  @INPROCEEDINGS{ist_multirate,
  author = {L. Cerd{\`a} and M. Voorhaen and R. Guimar{\^a}es and J.M. Barcel{\'o} and J. Garc{\'i}a and C. Blondia},
  title = {A Reservation Scheme Satisfying Bandwidth QoS Constraints for Multirate Ad-Hoc Networks},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the IST Mobile & Wireless Communications Summit 2005},
  year = {2005},
  month = {JUN},
  location = {Dresden, Germany},
  URL = {content/publications/2005/ist_multirate.pdf},
  abstract = { Achieving QoS (Quality of Service) in Mobile Ad-hoc NETworks (MANET) has been a research topic in the last years. In this paper we describe a QoS reservation mechanism for Multirate Ad-hoc Networks. By multirate we refer to those networks where the mobile nodes can dynamically switch between several link rates. This allows the mobile nodes to select the transmission rate with better performance for every neighbor. The mechanism is targeted for sources requiring a bandwidth allocation. The mechanism is based on the knowledge of the bandwidth requirements of the neighbors of a node and the interferent nodes in the coverage area of each node. We describe as the protocol could be integrated in AODV and OLSR. We also give simulation results showing the advantages of our reservation scheme.}
  }
  
  Abstract:
  Achieving QoS (Quality of Service) in Mobile Ad-hoc NETworks (MANET) has been a research topic in the last years. In this paper we describe a QoS reservation mechanism for Multirate Ad-hoc Networks. By multirate we refer to those networks where the mobile nodes can dynamically switch between several link rates. This allows the mobile nodes to select the transmission rate with better performance for every neighbor. The mechanism is targeted for sources requiring a bandwidth allocation. The mechanism is based on the knowledge of the bandwidth requirements of the neighbors of a node and the interferent nodes in the coverage area of each node. We describe as the protocol could be integrated in AODV and OLSR. We also give simulation results showing the advantages of our reservation scheme.

• WIDENS: Advanced Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks for Public Safety
  H. Aïache, V. Conan, G. Guibé, J. Leguay, C. Le Martret, J.M. Barceló, L. Cerdà, J. García, R. Knopp, N. Nikaein, X. Gonzalez, A. Zeini, O. Apilo, A. Boukalov, J. Karvo, H. Koskinen, L. Bergonzi, J. Diaz, J. Meessen, C. Blondia, P. De Cleyn, E. Van de Velde & M. Voorhaen
  Proceedings of the IST Mobile & Wireless Communications Summit 2005, Dresden, Germany, 2005.
  BibTeX | Abstract | PDF Available
  
  Bibtex:
  @INPROCEEDINGS{ist_widens,
  author = {H. A{\"i}ache and V. Conan and G. Guib{\'e} and J. Leguay and C. Le Martret and J.M. Barcel{\'o} and L. Cerd{\`a} and J. Garc{\'i}a and R. Knopp and N. Nikaein and X. Gonzalez and A. Zeini, O. Apilo and A. Boukalov and J. Karvo and H. Koskinen and L. Bergonzi and J. Diaz and J. Meessen and C. Blondia and P. De Cleyn and E. Van de Velde and M. Voorhaen},
  title = {WIDENS: Advanced Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks for Public Safety},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the IST Mobile & Wireless Communications Summit 2005},
  year = {2005},
  month = {JUN},
  location = {Dresden, Germany},
  URL = {content/publications/2005/ist_widens.pdf},
  abstract= {This paper provides an overview of the on-going European Project called WIreless DEployable Network System (WIDENS) which aims at defining a rapidly deployable communication system for public safety or emergency services. In this context, users expect a highly reliable communication system that can support real time applications to allow teams to collaborate in an efficient way. They also want the system to work in a spontaneous fashion and with no pre-installed infrastructures. To fit all the requirements, WIDENS takes advantage of the technology of wireless ad hoc networks to establish high data rate communication links on the fly. In this paper we describe the overall architecture of the WIDENS network and highlight the design of its major components.}
  }
  
  Abstract:
  This paper provides an overview of the on-going European Project called WIreless DEployable Network System (WIDENS) which aims at defining a rapidly deployable communication system for public safety or emergency services. In this context, users expect a highly reliable communication system that can support real time applications to allow teams to collaborate in an efficient way. They also want the system to work in a spontaneous fashion and with no pre-installed infrastructures. To fit all the requirements, WIDENS takes advantage of the technology of wireless ad hoc networks to establish high data rate communication links on the fly. In this paper we describe the overall architecture of the WIDENS network and highlight the design of its major components.

• A Reservation Scheme Satisfying Bandwidth QoS Constraints for Ad-Hoc Networks
  L. Cerdà, M. Voorhaen, R. Guimarães, J.M. Barceló, J. García & C. Blondia
  Revised Selected Papers of Wireless Systems and Mobility in Next Generation Internet: First International Workshop of the EURO-NGI Network of Excellence, Dagstuhl Castle, Germany, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 3427, pp. 176-188, 2005.
  BibTeX | Abstract | PDF Available
  
  Bibtex:
  @INPROCEEDINGS{dagstuhl,
  author = { L. Cerd{\`a} and M. Voorhaen and R. Guimar{\^a}es and J.M. Barcel{\'o} and J. Garc{\'i}a and C. Blondia},
  title = {A Reservation Scheme Satisfying Bandwidth QoS Constraints for Ad-Hoc Networks},
  booktitle = {Revised Selected Papers of Wireless Systems and Mobility in Next Generation Internet: First International Workshop of the EURO-NGI Network of Excellence},
  series = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science},
  volume = {3427},
  pages = {176--188},
  year = {2005},
  month = {FEB},
  location = {Dagstuhl Castle, Germany},
  URL = {content/publications/2005/dagstuhl.pdf},
  abstract = { Achieving QoS (Quality of Service) in Mobile Ad-hoc NETworks (MANET) has been a research topic in the last years. In this paper we describe a QoS reservation mechanism for Routing Ad-hoc Networks. The mechanism is targeted for sources requiring a bandwidth allocation. The mechanism is based on the knowledge of the bandwidth requirements of the neighbors of a node and the interferent nodes in the cover area of each node. We describe as the protocol could be integrated in AODV and OLSR. We also give simulation results showing the advantages of our reservation scheme.}
  }
  
  Abstract:
  Achieving QoS (Quality of Service) in Mobile Ad-hoc NETworks (MANET) has been a research topic in the last years. In this paper we describe a QoS reservation mechanism for Routing Ad-hoc Networks. The mechanism is targeted for sources requiring a bandwidth allocation. The mechanism is based on the knowledge of the bandwidth requirements of the neighbors of a node and the interferent nodes in the cover area of each node. We describe as the protocol could be integrated in AODV and OLSR. We also give simulation results showing the advantages of our reservation scheme.

Poster Presentations

2005

• Multi-Mode Routing vs Multi-level Routing
  Jeroen Hoebeke, Erwin Van de Velde, Michael Voorhaen
  Presented at the MOTION site visit, 9 September 2005, Ghent
  PDF file available

2004

• Scalable Routing In Emergency Networks
  Michael Voorhaen
  Presented at the IBBT Brokerage Event, 2004
  PDF file available