Quality-of-Service and Security of Voice-over IP (VoIP):
An End-to-End Approach for Multi-Network Environments
Participating Faculty: Mustaque Ahamad (Co-PI, CoC), Yucel Altunbasak (ECE), Douglas M. Blough (ECE), Mary Ann Ingram (Co-PI, ECE), Chuanyi Ji (ECE), Wenke Lee (CoC), Henry Owen (CoC,ECE) and Raghupathy Sivakumar (ECE)
We will explore QoS and security for VoIP deployments over multiple types of networks in an end-to-end path. Our work on E-EQoS research has two main components: requirements and optimization. The goals of the requirements component are to determine the type and amount of management information needed to be exchanged among managed domains to support VoIP, and to determine the per-hop loss-rate and delay and jitter requirements, as might be imposed by the application layer. The optimization component will focus on different links in different types of networks to maximize E-EQoS for VoIP, with focus on wireless networks. Our goal in security research is to evaluate VoIP threats and vulnerabilities, and design a secure architecture to support mechanisms for security and dependability of VoIP devices, protocols, and services that rival those of traditional telecommunications providers. We will address traditional security concerns such as confidentiality, integrity and availability and the tradeoffs that may exist between security as quality-of-service.
VoIP enables richer applications that integrate voice with other modes of collaboration between end-users. In our end-to-end approach, we will explore vulnerabilities at both the protocol and the application levels. The project will have two test beds:
(1) A VoIP demonstration test bed with end-to-end paths that simultaneously include at least two types of wireless access, such as WiFi and 3G cellular. The test bed will also demonstrate hand-offs of VoIP within the same type of network and between the different types of wireless networks.
(2) In parallel with the demonstration, an NS2 network simulation test bed will be developed. The simulation will emulate the demonstration, and will also enable experimentation with alternative existing standards and various advanced wireless physical layer models, such as MIMO and smart antennas. Network optimization schemes will be tested on the NS2 simulation test bed.