A Review of the Architecture and the

Underlying Protocols in the Telephone

Network

Dipak Ghosal
Department of Computer Science
University of California at Davis

1
 Outline
„ History
„ Network Architecture
„ SS7 Protocol
„ Routing
„ Media Stimulated Focused Overload
„ Overview of Telephony Research
„ Current Efforts
15 November 2005 2
 History
„ Pre-1984
„ AT&T
„ 1980’s saw rapid deployment of digital
technology in the core network
„ 1984
„ Breakup of AT&T into
„ 7 RBOCs (Regional Bell Operating Companies),
„ AT&T, and others
„ Local area carriers (LECs) serving LATA were
regulated
„ Long distance carrier (IXC) service was opened
15 November 2005 3
 History (2)
„ Post 1984
„ New Telecom Act in 1996
„ Further deregulation of LECs (ILECs and CLECS)
„ Local area and long distance markets opened
„ Local Number Portability
„ Break-up of AT&T
„ AT&T
„ Lucent (Bell-Labs)
„ Mergers of RBOCs and CLECs

15 November 2005 4
 Outline
„ History
„ Network Architecture
„ SS7 Protocol
„ Routing
„ Media Stimulated Focused Overload
„ Overview of Telephony Research
„ Current Efforts
15 November 2005 5
 A Typical Regional POTS Network

15 November 2005 6
 Network Architecture

15 November 2005 7
 Circuit Network
„ Central Offices (End Offices)
„ Local aggregation points for phone lines
„ Wire-pair (local loop) to each telephone
„ Tandems
„ Hubs interconnecting Central Offices
„ Connecting to IXCs

15 November 2005 8
 Circuit Network (2)
„ Hierarchical organization
„ End office
„ Toll Center
„ Primary Center
„ Sectional Center
„ Regional Center

15 November 2005 9
 End Office

15 November 2005 10
 Signaling Network
„ Signaling network is the brain
„ Circuit network forms the the muscles
„ All nodes in the signaling network are
called signaling points
„ SSP -> Service Switching Points
„ STP -> Signaling Transfer Point
„ SCP -> Service Control Point

15 November 2005 11
 Service Switching Point
„ This is the local exchange in the telephone
network
„ Interfaces both the circuit network and
signaling network
„ Generate SS7 messages from signals from the
voice network
„ Generate SS7 query messages for non-circuit
related messages
„ LNP has significantly altered the traffic
mix

15 November 2005 12
 Signaling Transfer Point
„ Routers in the SS7 network
„ Route messages between SSPs
„ Support Global Title Translation for
non-circuit related messages
„ These can be separate stand alone
nodes or adjuncts to a voice switch
„ Many tandems used to act as STPs
„ Deployed as a mated pair

15 November 2005 13
 Signaling Transfer Point (2)
„ Hierarchy of STPs
„ Local and Regional STPs
„ International STPs
„ Gateway STPs
„ Interconnect different networks including cellular
networks
„ Very important node in the SS7 network
„ Many other functions including measurements
and data mining

15 November 2005 14
 Service Control Point
„ Interfaces to databases
„ 800/900 databases
„ HLR/VLR databases
„ LIDB (Line Information Databases) for
calling cards
„ Local Number Portability Database
„ New Advanced Intelligent Network
(AIN) services.

15 November 2005 15
 Types of Signaling Links

15 November 2005 16
 Types of Signaling Links (2)
„ A-Links are access links between SSP and STP or
SCP and STP
„ B-Links are bridge links that connect mated STP
pairs in the same hierarchy
„ C-Links are cross links between an STP and its mat
„ D-Links are diagonal links between STPs at
different levels of the hierarchy
„ E-Links a extended links to connect to remote STP
pairs
„ F-links are fully associated links

15 November 2005 17
 Types of Signaling Links (3)
„ Link sets are group of links with the same
adjacent nodes
„ Route is a collection of link sets required
to reach a destination
„ Route set is a collection of routes
„ Routing is hop-by-hop
„ A signaling point needs to know which linkset to
use towards the destination

15 November 2005 18
 Addressing
„ Each signaling point has a address and it is
referred to as the Point Code
„ It is a 24-bit address
„ 8 bits network identifier
„ 8 bits cluster identifier
„ 8 bits node identifier
„ Full point code routing
„ Partial point code routing
„ Cluster routing or network routing

15 November 2005 19
 Requirements
„ Availability objective: an unavailability of
no more than 10 minutes downtime between
two SPs
„ Lost message probability: 1 in 10**7
„ Message Out-of-sequence probability: 1 in
10**10
„ Performance objectives:
„ Maximum link utilization must be less than 40%
„ Various other requirements on various processing delay
„ Maximum message processing delay at an SP is 200ms

15 November 2005 20
 Outline
„ History
„ Network Architecture
„ SS7 Protocol
„ Routing
„ Media Stimulated Focused Overload
„ Overview of Telephony Research
„ Current Efforts
15 November 2005 21
 Protocol Stack

15 November 2005 22
 ISDN User Part (ISUP)

15 November 2005 23
 ISDN User Part (ISUP)
„ IAM – Initial Address Message
„ Message type, Called party number, calling party
category, forward call indicators, nature of connection
identifier, user service information
„ ACM – Acknowledge Message
„ ANM –Answer Message
„ REL – Release Message
„ RLC – Release Clear Message
„ All these message have a associated circuit
identification code (CIC)

15 November 2005 24
 Database Query (TCAP)

15 November 2005 25
 Signaling Connection Control
Part (SCCP)
„ Additional functions over MTP (network)
layer to support connectionless and
connection oriented services
„ Very similar to transport layer
„ Address Translations
„ Dialed digits to destination point codes
„ Particularly important for non-routable
numbers such as 800/900.
„ GTT functionality is supported in the STP
to determine which database will provide
the translation.
15 November 2005 26
 Message Transfer Part
(MTP) Layer 3
„ Network Management
„ Link management
„ Traffic management
„ Route Management
„ Message discrimination
„ Message distribution
„ Message routing

15 November 2005 27
 MTP Layer 3 (2)
„ Message discrimination
„ Determine if the message is destined to
the receiving node
„ If yes apply message distribution to
distributed it to the appropriate
application
„ Else, route it to the destination using
the most direct route (I.e., fewest
number of hops)

15 November 2005 28
 MTP Layer 3 (3)
„ Traffic management
„ Link failures
„ Route failures
„ Congestion

15 November 2005 29
 Transient A-Link Failure
STP1
Level3 Level3 L2
STP2

L2 L2 L2

Link
Failure
SP1 SP2 SPn

15 November 2005 30
 Link Failure
„ Level-2 processor sends a link failure
message to the Level-3 processor
„ Level-3 processor updates its own routing
table
„ Level-3 processor sends out routing table
update message to other Level-3
processors within the STP

15 November 2005 31
 Link Failure (2)
„ Send out Traffic Restricted (TFR) messages to all
the SPs
„ Send out Traffic Prohibited (TFP) message to the
mate-STP via the C-link
„ Send change-over message to the corresponding
SP
„ Sends changeover signal to the Level-2 processor
to re-routes messages via the C-link

15 November 2005 32
 Congestion
STP1
Level3 Level3 L2
STP2

L2 L2 L2

TFC
Messages

SP1 SP2 SP3 SPn

15 November 2005 33
 STP Architecture

15 November 2005 34
 Key Design Issue
„ What is the best cluster size?
„ Centralized architecture have few Level-3 processors
„ Fewer number of routing tables hence quicker update

of failue information within the STP

„ Potential Level-3 processor overload

„ Distributed architectures have large number of Level-3

processors
„ Multiple failures can be processed in parallel

„ Large number of routing tables and hence delays in

updating all copies

„ What is the priority structure for
different message types in the Level-3
processor?
15 November 2005 35
 Model of Level-3 Processor

15 November 2005 36
 Network Model
„ 1, 8, 16, 24 A-link
failures
„ All failures to a
single STP
„ Simultaneous
recovery after 11
seconds

15 November 2005 37
 Call Throughput

15 November 2005 38
 Key Results
„ A clustered architecture with 8/16
Level-2 processors per Level-3
processor performed the best
„ Priority of tasks was a very important
factor
„ Dynamic priority inversion

15 November 2005 39
 Outline
„ History
„ Network Architecture
„ SS7 Protocol
„ Routing
„ Media Stimulated Focused Overload
„ Overview of Telephony Research
„ Current Efforts
15 November 2005 40
 Routing in Circuit Network
„ Dynamic Routing
„ Some part of the routing changes over
time
„ Adaptive Routing
„ Some part of the routing is a function of
the network state at the time the
decision is made

15 November 2005 41
 Alternate Routing
„ An ordered set of routes from which the
choice is made
„ Fixed alternate routing
„ A small subset of fixed route is used
„ The set of alternate route is scanned in some
predetermined order and the call is connected
on the first free path that is found
„ There are different methods on how the
routing control is propagated

15 November 2005 42
 Alternate Routing (2)
„ There are different methods on how
the routing control is propagated
„ Originating-office control
„ Spill-forward control
„ Crankback

15 November 2005 43
 Fixed Hierarchical Routing
„ Hierarchical organization of switches
„ End office
„ Toll Center
„ Primary Center
„ Sectional Center
„ Regional Center
„ There are specific hierarchical fan
rules of how switches are connected

15 November 2005 44
 Dynamic Nonhierarchical
Routing
„ Deployed in mid 1980s
„ A day is divided in to 10 traffic periods
„ All switches are same – no hierarchy
„ Routing is alternate type with the provision
that alternate paths are limited to atmost
two links
„ Long paths can result in “knock-on” effect
and make the system highly sensitive to
overloads
„ Uses crankback
15 November 2005 45
 Adpative Routing
„ Residual capacity adaptive routing
(RCAR)
„ Uses occupancy information of all trunk
groups periodically updated by
measurements
„ DCR – sends calls to paths with the
largest expected number of free trunks
„ Trunk Status Map Routing
„ Adaptive DNHR

15 November 2005 46
 Outline
„ History
„ Network Architecture
„ SS7 Protocol
„ Routing
„ Media Stimulated Focused Overload
„ Overview of Telephony Research
„ Current Efforts
15 November 2005 47
The Problem
„ Media events may stimulate a large number
of calls to a single number in a very short
time interval
„ Mass Call-Ins cause focused overloads,
denying service to customers trying to reach
other numbers
„ Outages may persist for long period

„ Existing automated network controls protect

the network, but deny service unnecessarily
15 November 2005 48
 Example of Mass Callin

15 November 2005 49
 Choke Network
„ Special exchange which serves many
clients (e.g., radio stations) that
regularly generate call-ins
„ Small number of trunk to this
exchange
„ Not suitable for clients that would
like to have large number of calls
completed (ticket sales)

15 November 2005 50
 Manual Call Gaps
STP

SSP SSP

Call Call Gap Table

XXX-XXX-XXXX 60
XXX-XXX-XXXX 60
Attempt XXX-XXX-XXXX
XXX-XXX-XXXX
120
30
XXX-XXX-XXXX 10
XXX-XXX-XXXX 100
XXX-XXX-XXXX 30
XXX-XXX-XXXX 3
XXX-XXX-XXXX 60
XXX-XXX-XXXX 60
XXX-XXX-XXXX 120
XXX-XXX-XXXX 30
XXX-XXX-XXXX 10
XXX-XXX-XXXX 100
XXX-XXX-XXXX 30
XXX-XXX-XXXX 3
XXX-XXX-XXXX 60

15 November 2005 51
 TFC Congestion Control
STP Congestion
Detected
TFC

SSP SSP

Call
Attempt Block all calls
to target DPC

15 November 2005 52
 Other Methods
„ Automatic Congestion Control (ACC)
„ Method by which a switch can protect
itself if overloaded
„ Curtails a percentage of call request on a
per trunk-group basis
„ Code Blocks
„ Blocks a percentage of calls to specific
numbers

15 November 2005 53
 Call Processing and Signaling
Normal Call
Caller
IAM ACM REL RLC
ANM
Callee
IAM carries called number

Conversation

Call to a Busy Number

Caller
IAM REL RLC

Callee
Release-Busy

15 November 2005 54
 Key Ideas

• When a Mass Call-In occurs, a very large number

of Release-Busies messages from the same target
number are quickly generated
• Call gaps are an effective method for stopping
traffic to a particular number
• Call gaps have almost no effect on traffic to other
numbers, while squelching traffic to the target

15 November 2005 55
 Example of Mass Callin

15 November 2005 56
 Algorithm

• Maintain information on called numbers during

initial call processing
• Cache recent Release-Busies using hashing
• Detect multiple Release-Busies to the same target
number over a short (2-3 second) interval
• Insert Call-Gaps into switches generating traffic
to the busy number
• Remove Call-Gaps after a period of inactivity (5-10
minutes)
15 November 2005 57
 Implementation Issues

• Current switch technology does not allow Call Gaps

to be set quickly
• Fast Call Gaps assume switches engineering to allow
Call Gaps to be set within one second
• Slow Call Gaps assume Call Gaps can be set with an
8 second delay plus 700 milliseconds per switch
(achievable with current switches)

15 November 2005 58
 Simulation Results

15 November 2005 59
 Simulation Results (Detail)

15 November 2005 60
 Operator Utilization (10 Operators)

15 November 2005 61
 Operator Utilization (100 Operators)

15 November 2005 62
 Summary
• Unanticipated Mass Call-In events can be
effectively and efficiently controlled by a simple
detection method
• Fast Call Gaps would reduce the effect of Call-In
overloads to almost unnoticeable levels
• Slow Call Gaps would provide an effective method
for controlling Call-In events without the necessity
of modification of existing switches

15 November 2005 63
 Outline
„ History
„ Network Architecture
„ SS7 Protocol
„ Routing
„ Media Stimulated Focused Overload
„ Overview of Telephony Research
„ Current Efforts
15 November 2005 64
 Research Summary
„ Security
„ B. Reynolds and Dipak Ghosal. STEM: Secure Telephony Enabled Middlebox.
IEEE Communications Magazine Special Issue on Security in Telecommunication
Networks. October 2002.
„ B. Reynolds and Dipak Ghosal, “Secure IP Telephony Using Multi-Layer
Protection,” to appear in Network and Distributed Systems Security
(NDSS03), San Diego, February 2003.

„ Resource Management
„ M. C. Caesar, D. Ghosal, and R. Katz, ``Resource Management for IP Telephony
Networks,'' International Workshop of Quality of Service (IWQoS), Miami,
May 2002.

„ Node Architectures
„ Dipak Ghosal, “A Comparative Analysis of STP Architectures Under Transient
Failure and Overload Conditions,” IEEE International Conference on
Perfromance and Dependable Systems, June 1999.

15 November 2005 65
 Research Summary (2)
„ Pricing
„ Matthew Caesar, Sujatha Balaraman and Dipak Ghosal, "A Comparative Study of
Pricing Strategies for IP Telephony", IEEE Globecom 2000, Global Internet
Symposium, San Francisco, USA, -- I presented my work on Nov. 29, 2000.

„ Traffic Issues
„ J. Burns and D. Ghosal, ``Automatic Detection and Control of Media
Stimulated Focused Overloads,'' Proceedings of the International
Teletraffic Congress, Washington D.C., June 1997, pp.889-900. To
appear in Telecommunication Systems
„ A. Mukherjee and D. Ghosal, ``The Impact of Background Traffic on
the Effectiveness of FEC for Audio over Internet,''
InternationalTeletraffic Congress, Edinburgh, UK 1999.

15 November 2005 66
 Research Summary (3)
„ Enhanced Signaling Network
Architecture
•J „ Abramson, Xiao-yan Fang, and D. Ghosal. Analysis of an
Enhanced Signaling Network for Scalable Mobility Management
in Next Generation Wireless Networks. IEEE Globecom. Taiwan,
ROC, November 2002.
„ T. Sinclair and D. Ghosal, An Enhanced Signaling Network
Architecture for Replicated HLR – Prototype Implementation
and Performance Analysis, ICC 1999, Vancouver

15 November 2005 67
 Outline
„ History
„ Network Architecture
„ SS7 Protocol
„ Routing
„ Media Stimulated Focused Overload
„ Overview of Telephony Research
„ Current Efforts
15 November 2005 68
Overview
„ Security
„ Security architecture for IP Telephony
„ Sensors to detect DoS attacks
„ Detection algorithm
„ Recovery algorithms
„ Preliminary results from simulation analysis
„ Future work
„ Resource Management in IP Telephony
„ Routing

15 November 2005 69
 Enterprise Network

Softphone IP Phone
DNS Web
Server Server

Enterprise Internet
PSTN LAN
Edge
Media / Route
Interna
Signal Externa r
l SIP SIP
Gateway l
Firewal Registrar / Redirect
l Firewall
Authenticatio Location Proxy
n Server Server

Enterprise DMZ

15 November 2005 70
 Call Setup – Net-to-Net

The Location Service is

queried to check that the
DNS Server
DNS Query for destination IP address
the IP Address represents a valid
of the SIP Proxy registered device, and for
of the its IP Address Location
2 Destination The INVITE is 4 Service
forwarded
Domain 3
A request is SIP
sent (SIP Proxy 5
INVITE) to The request is forwarded
ESTABLISH a SIP to the End-Device
session Proxy/LS
1 SIP IP Phone
6

Media Transport
Destination device returns
SIP IP Phone its IP Address to the
originating device and a
media connection is
opened

15 November 2005 71
 Call Setup – PSTN-to-Net

15 November 2005 72
 Comparison of Solutions
Method Advantage Disadvantage

All Access Every application will No perimeter security at

work all
Traffic Redirection No issues with firewall Removes advantages of
or NAT using IP telephony
Application Proxy Firewall does not need to Firewall can’t provide
be modified protection for proxy
Protocol Tunneling Limited additional filter Large overhead and
rules required requires modifying IP
telephony clients
Secure Telephony Provides high level of Requires new firewall
Enabled Middleboxes network security and installed
(STEM) allows dynamic apps

15 November 2005 73
 Vulnerability Analysis
„ Property oriented approach
„ Access control to use IP telephony
service
„ Integrity and authenticity of IP
telephony signaling messages
„ Resource availability and fairness in
providing IP telephony service
„ Confidentiality and accountability

15 November 2005 74
 Access Control
„ Deny unauthorized users access to IP
telephony service
„ Central authentication servers
„ E.g.: RADIUS server
„ Enable various network elements to
query authentication server

15 November 2005 75
 Integrity and Authenticity of
Signaling Messages
„ Call Based Denial of Service
„ CANCEL messages, BYE message, Unavailable

responses
„ Call Redirection
„ Re-registering with bogus terminal address,

user moved to new address, redirect to

additional proxy
„ User Impersonation

15 November 2005 76
Payload Encryption

„ Capture and decoding of voice stream

„ Can be done in real-time very easily

„ Capture of DTMF information

„ Voice mail access code, credit card

number, bank account

„ Call profiling based on information in
message headers

15 November 2005 77
 Resource Fairness and Availability
„ Flood based attacks
„ Network bandwidth between enterprise
and external network
„ Server resources at control points
„ SIP Proxy Server
„ Voice ports in Media/Signaling Gateway
„ Signaling link between Media/Signaling
Gateway and PSTN
„ End user

15 November 2005 78
 Internet Originated Attack
„ Enterprise network connection can be
flooded using SYN flooding
„ Resources in the SIP proxy server
can be exhausted by a large flood of
incoming call request
„ End user can be targeted with a
large number of SIP INVITE
requests in a brief period of time

15 November 2005 79
 PSTN Originated Attack

„ Voice ports on the M/S gateway are

completely allocated
„ Signaling link between M/S gateway and
PSTN STP becomes saturated with
messages
„ Large number of PSTN endpoints attempt
to contact a single individual resulting in a
high volume of INVITE messages

15 November 2005 80
 Security Architecture

Softphone IP Phone
DNS Web
Server Server

Enterprise Internet
PSTN LAN
Application Transpor Edge
Media / Application Layer t Layer Route
Interna
Signal Layer Attack Attack Externa r
l SIP SIP
Gateway Attack Sensor Sensor l
Firewal Registrar / Redirect
Sensor Firewall
Authenticatio l Location Proxy
n Server Server

Enterprise DMZ

15 November 2005 81
Application Layer Attack Sensor
(ALAS)
„ Monitors the number of SIP INVITE
requests and the SIP OK (call acceptance)
responses
„ URI level monitor
„ Aggregate level monitor
„ Detection Algorithm
„ Response Algorithm
„ Proxy or M/S gateway returns temporally busy
messages

15 November 2005 82
 Transport Layer Attack Sensor
(TLAS)
„ Monitors the number of TCP SYN and ACK
packets
„ Traffic is monitored at an aggregate level
„ Upon detection of an attack, throttling is
applied by perimeter devices (e.g. firewall)
„ If attack persists, traceback technologies can
be used to drop malicious traffic at an
upstream point

15 November 2005 83
 RTP Stream Attack Sensor (RSAS)
„ To detect malicious RTP and RTCP streams
„ Parameters of the RTP streams are known
at connection setup time
„ Police individual streams
„ Statistical techniques to determine large flows
„ Packets corresponding to the malicious
streams are dropped at the firewall
„ Need cooperation of upstream routers to
mitigate link saturation

15 November 2005 84
Detection Algorithm for
TLAS
„ Monitoring the volume of connection
attempts vs. volume of complete
connection handshakes can be used to
detect an attack
„ Based on the sequential change point
detection method proposed by Wang,
Zhang and Shin (Infocom 2002) to
detect TCP SYN attacks
15 November 2005 85
 Algorithm
„ All connection setup attempts and complete
handshakes are counted during the observation
period
„ During each sampling period the difference is
computed and normalized
„ Under normal operation, the resulting value should
be very close to 0
„ In the presence of an attack, the result is a large
positive number
„ Apply a cumulative sum method to detect short
high volume attacks as well as longer low volume
attacks
15 November 2005 86
 Recovery Algorithm
„ Linear Recovery
„ This is the default behavior of the detection
algorithm
„ Exponential Recovery
„ The cumulative sum decreases multiplicatively
once the attack has ceased
„ Reset after Timeout
„ The cumulative sum decays linearly decays until
a timer expires at which point it is reset to 0

15 November 2005 87
 Preliminary Results
„ Types of attack
„ Limited DoS attack
„ Single user targeted by one or more attackers
„ Stealth DoS attack
„ Multiple users targeted by one or more attackers
each with a low volume of call requests
„ Aggressive DoS attack
„ Multiple users targeted with moderate call requests
„ Ability to detect both aggregate level
attacks as well as attack to individual URIs

15 November 2005 88
 Preliminary Results

15 November 2005 89
 Preliminary Results

15 November 2005 90
 Preliminary Results

15 November 2005 91
 Results

15 November 2005 92
 Future Work
„ Detailed analysis
„ Tradeoff between detection time and
false alarm rate
„ Formal vulnerability analysis
„ Additional vulnerabilities with ENUM
„ Routing layer issues
„ Vulnerabilities of multihomed networks

15 November 2005 93
Resource Management in
IP Telephony Networks

Matthew Caesar, Dipak Ghosal,

Randy H. Katz
{mccaesar, randy}@cs.berkeley.edu
ghosal@cs.ucdavis.edu

94
 Motivation
„ What is IP Telephony?
„ Packetized voice over IP
„ PSTN access through Internet Telephony Gateway (ITG)
„ Benefits:
„ Improved network utilization
„ Next generation services (POTS Æ PANS)
„ Growth:
„ Revenues $1.7 billion in 2001, 6% of international traffic
was over IP, growing [Frost 2002] [Telegeography 2002]
„ Standardized, deployed protocols (TRIP, SIP, H.323)
„ Æ Requires scalable architecture to limit
congestion.
15 November 2005 95
 Goals
„ High quality, economically efficient
telephony over the Internet.
„ Low blocking probability
„ Provide preferential treatment, high QoS
„ Questions:
„ How to perform call admission control?
„ How best to route calls through converged
network?

15 November 2005 96
 Approach
„ Mechanisms
„ ITG selection
„ Congestion sensitive *
call admission
* *

Distance
control
„ Techniques * * *
„ Awareness of ITG *
congestion
Utilization
„ Path quality between
important points in
network

15 November 2005 97
 Overview
„ IP Telephony Networks
„ Pricing-based Admission Control
„ Redirection Techniques
„ Experimental Design
„ Results
„ Future Work

15 November 2005 98
 System Architecture
ITG
ITG
LS LS 6

ITG
5 LS
3
ITG
LS
4
1 2

ITG
LS

ITG
LS

Admin. Domain (AD)

Internet Example Call Setup
ITG Gateway (ITG) Example Advertisement
IP Terminal
LS Location Server (LS) Example Call Session

15 November 2005 99
 Scope of Study
1. All calls are net-to-phone
2. ADs cooperate to provide service.
3. Use IETF’s TRIP architecture to
support interoperability.
4. Disregard degradation in access
network.
5. Prices determined at start of call.
6. ITGs offer equal PSTN reachability.
15 November 2005 100
 Pricing
„ PSTN
„ distance pricing
„ time of day pricing
„ IP Telephony
„ richer user interface
„ allows for more dynamic pricing schemes
„ Baseline: Flat-rate Admission Control
(FAC)

15 November 2005 101

 Congestion Sensitive Call
Admission Control (CAC)
„ Goal: prevent system overload and
generate revenue
„ Price of call
„ function of number of voice ports in use
„ rises when highly utilized
„ More dynamic than PSTN

15 November 2005 102

 Price-Congestion Function
„ Used M/M/m/m (m- 0
α0λ μ
server loss system)
„ responsive server 1
α1λ 2μ
„ loss system
2
„ discouraged arrivals
..
„ Found price-congestion .
function that m-1
maximized revenue αm-1λ mμ
with respect to α m
15 November 2005 103
 Congestion Pricing Analysis
„ Exponential function generates most revenue
„ Stepwise linear function almost as good
„ Maximum system price charged early
„ Approximation to function minimizes price
fluctuations
Revenue-maximizing Price-congestion Function Price-congestion Function Used in this Study
1
1
0.9
0.9 Normalized Price Charged
Normalized Price Charged

0.8
0.8
0.7 0.7
0.6 0.6
0.5 0.5
0.4 0.4
0.3 0.3
0.2 0.2
0.1 0.1
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
0
1510November
20
2005
Utilization
30 40
[voice ports]
50 60
Utilization [voice ports] 104
 Redirection
„ Problem: finding the “best” ITG
„ Approach: tradeoffs between quality and load
„ Method: LS maintains
„ Average measured path quality
„ Number voice ports in use
„ Algorithms:
„ Random Redirection (RR) (baseline)
„ QoS Sensitive Redirection (QR)
„ Congestion Sensitive Redirection (CR)
„ Hybrid Scheme (CQR)

15 November 2005 105

 Redirection Schemes
„ QoS Sensitive Redirection (QR)
„ Different paths provide different service
„ Technique:
„ Use RTCP RRs to monitor path congestion
„ Route over best paths
„ Congestion Sensitive Redirection (CR)
„ Unbalanced load causes call blocks
„ Technique:
„ Use TRIP advertisements to estimate ITG utilization
„ Route to least utilized ITG

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 Hybrid Redirection (CQR)
„ Choosing nearby ITG improves call quality, but can
unbalance load.
„ Algorithm:
„ Compute Rdm = β *Mi+(1-β)*Qi
„ Mi is utilization, Qi is loss rate
„ Select randomly from k ITGs with lowest Rdm
„ Tradeoffs:
„ Use β to trade off call quality and load balance
„ Use k to vary flash crowd protection
„ Price Sensitive CQR (PCQR)
„ Decrease β for higher bids

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 Overview
„ IP Telephony Networks
„ Pricing-based Admission Control
„ Redirection Techniques
„ Experimental Design
„ Results
„ Future Work

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 Experimental Method
„ Modified ns-2
„ Ran for 1.5 simulated hours
„ Eliminated first half-hour
„ User Model
„ Bid uniformly distributed
„ Voice traffic on-off Markov process
„ Pareto cross-traffic
„ Data points stable across several time
scales

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 Evaluation: Metrics
„ Blocking Probability
„ Average call QoS
„ Used Mean Opinion Score (MOS) based on RTP
loss rate
„ Economic efficiency
„ Ratio of service tier to QoS achieved
„ Stability: Variance in ITG utilization
„ Over time
„ Over the set of ITGs

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Admission Control: Blocking Probability
Call Blocking Probability
0.6

0.5
BlockingProbability

0.4

0.3
QR+FAC
0.2 QR+CAC

0.1

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Offered Load

„ Flat pricing unnecessarily blocks many

callers
„ Congestion pricing changes system price
dynamically with load
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Redirection: Blocking Probability
Call Blocking Probability
0.18
0.16
BlockingProbability

0.14 CQR+NAC k=1

0.12 CQR+NAC k=3
CQR+NAC k=6
0.1 RR+NAC
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
β
Beta

„ Congestion sensitivity decreases blocking

probability
„ Small k Æ few blocked calls
Congestion Sensitive Redirection (CR) improves
„
balance over Random Redirection (RR)
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Redirection: Load Balance
System Stability
300

CQR+NAC k=1
VarianceinUtilization[ports/sec]

250
CQR+NAC k=3

200 CQR+NAC k=6

RR+NAC

150

100

50

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
β
Beta

„ More congestion sensitivity improves

balance
„ Load imbalance blocks calls

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Redirection: Background Traffic
Effects
Effects of Background Traffic
6

4
QoS[MOS]

3
CQR+NAC Beta=0
2 CQR+NAC Beta=0.9
CQR+NAC Beta=1
1
RR+NAC

0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Background Traffic Multiplier

ƒ QoS sensitivity minimizes effects of cross traffic

ƒ Small amount of sensitivity vastly improves call
quality

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 Summary
„ Admission Control Schemes:
„ Congestion sensitive pricing decreases
unnecessary call blocking, increases revenue,
and improves economic efficiency
„ Derived exponential price-congestion function
that maximizes revenue
„ Redirection Schemes:
„ Hybrid scheme achieves “best of both worlds”
„ Price sensitivity improves economic efficiency

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 Future Work
„ Realistic workload
„ Improve user model
„ Develop price-congestion function for
real users
„ Study flash-crowd effects
„ ITG Placement
„ Competitive Network

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Routing in IP Telephony
Networks

Brian Liao, Matthew Caesar,

Dipak Ghosal

117
 Problem:
„ Finding suitable Gateway to balance
resource, enhance QoS.
„ Select best path to lower blocking
probability, decrease delay.

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 Finding The Appropriate
Gateway
„ Performing matrix =
βMi+(1-β)Qi
Mi: voice port in use in gateway i
Qi: Audio Quality in gateway I

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 Finding Suitable Path (I)
„ Blocking Probability & Delay are two
keys selection criteria
„ Multi-constraints shortest path
problem is NP

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 Finding Suitable Path (II)
„ Finding K-shortest paths for primary
constraint.
„ From the K-shortest paths, select
the best path with respect to
secondary constraint.
„ Feasible in Polynomial Time.

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 Proposed solution
„ Base on location, select the best
gateway nearby.
„ Using K shortest path to select path
and fulfill multi-constraint.

15 November 2005 122

 Reference
„ Canhui (Sam) Ou, Keyao Zhu, Hui Zang, Laxman H.
Sahasrabuddhe, and Biswanath Mukherjee, Traffic
Grooming for Survivable WDM Networks -- Shared
Protection
„ David Eppstein, Finding the K shortest paths.

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