Networking in Open Distributed Environments - NODES
The NODES group was established in 1995 to coordinate the research in distributed systems and data communications, and to make it more effective. The group studies how systems are built out of autonomous parts and the interaction and behaviour of these parts. The functionality of the parts and the communication between them, as well as system management, performance and correctness are the main interests of the research group. At the moment, focal points in the research are context sensitivity, mobile always-on connectivity, interoperability and security-trust-privacy. The conditions and implementation of these functions are studied with the help of operating systems, Internet protocols and middleware. The research into tools and methods focuses on performance analysis, formal methods and programming models.
The research in NODES is divided into three sub-areas: wireless internet, collaborative and interoperable computing, and computing architectures and platforms. In the area of wireless Internet the focus of research lies on always-on and safe connectivity, spontaneous networks and support for mobility in middleware. In open and distributed systems, the cooperation between enterprises supported by middleware and trust-management are the focal points of research. For computing architectures and platforms the development of the Linux OS and the consideration of resource-restrictions in operating systems are the main research objects.
The research projects in the wireless-internet group were especially interested in TCP/IP protocol performance and quality of service and in internet session protocols. The IIP Cross and MERCoNe projects focused on developing new ways of improving collaboration between different protocol levels as well as seamless mobility in heterogenic environments with several different mobile network technologies, while the WeSAHMI project develops the collaboration between the Web Services and SIP protocols, and especially the implementation of the push and pull services. The NODES researchers in the ABI project design next-generation mesh networks for the management of mobility and web monitoring. It is one of the four large strategic research projects in the Tekes GIGA programme.
The HIIT/ARU Fuego Core 2005/7 and DYNAMOS projects studied middleware that supports mobility. The NODES group cooperated with European partners through the European Science Foundation project MiNEMA. The Tekes collaboration programme was put to use in cooperation with UC Berkeley and Rutgers University .
The open and distributed systems group developed middleware services that support the cooperation and networking between companies. Partners in the co-operation are application components, which have been developed independently and which are under separate autonomous authorities, which means that the system must have facilities for publishing services, for automatic negotiations about agreements, and for internal management to fulfil the agreements. Middleware services must conceptually be capable of working in parallel on several application platforms. The research is both conceptual, through architectural results, and experimental, through the experimental middleware environment that has been developed. Among the projects, SOAMES has focused on developing middleware and incorporating the SOA model into the cooperation between enterprises. The development of concepts and decisions of trust has also continued. The group has participated actively in European cooperation through the EU's expert network InterOp.
In the field of computing architectures and platforms, research has been concentrated on the Linux OS. The LiSAD project developed benchmarks for measuring system efficiency in the directing of telecommunication systems. The LiSED project developed service components for the Linux OS.
Contact person: Professor Kimmo Raatikainen
Website: http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/research/nodes/
Projects
INTEROP NoE
SoAMES
IIP Cross
MERCoNe
LiSAD
LiSED
ABI
WeSAHMI
Publications:
Daniel, L. & Kojo, M.: Adapting TCP for Vertical Handoffs in Wireless Networks. 0In Proc. 31st IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN), Tampa , FL , USA , November 15-16, 2006.
Kutvonen, L. & Metso, J. & Ruohomaa, S.: From trading to eCommunity population: Responding to social and contractual challenges. In Proceedings of the 10th IEEE International EDOC Conference (EDOC 2006), Hong Kong , October 2006. Best paper award.
Källström, L. & Leggio, S. & Suoranta, S. & Manner, J. & Mikkonen, T. & Raatikainen, K. & Saarinen, J. & Ylä-Jääski, A.: A Framework for Seamless Service Interworking in Ad-Hoc Networks Elsevier Computer Communications, Volume 29, Issue 16, 12 October 2006, Pages 3277-3294.
Leggio, S. & Manner, J. & Raatikainen, K.: A Secure SIP-based Instant Messaging and Presence Framework for Ad-Hoc Networks 49th IEEE GLOBECOM, San Francisco, November 27 - December 1, 2006.
Ruokolainen, T. & Kutvonen, L.: Addressing Autonomy and Interoperability in Breeding Environments. In L. Camarinha-Matos, H. Afsarmanesh, and M. Ollus, editors, Network-Centric Collaboration and Supporting Frameworks, volume 224 of IFIP International Federation for Information Processing, pages 481-488. September 2006. Springer.
Sarolahti, P. & Korhonen, J. & Daniel, L. & Kojo, M.: Using Quick-Start to Improve TCP Performance with Vertical Hand-offs. In Proc. IEEE Sixth International Workshop on Wireless Local Networks (in conjunction with IEEE Local Computer Networks 2006 conference),Tampa, FL, USA, November 14, 2006.