Synchronous multipoint E-learning realized on an intelligent software-router platform over unicast networks: Design and performance issues

E-learning is a general term used to refer to computer-enhanced learning. The most notable advantages of e-learning are flexibility, convenience and the ability to work at our own pace. Other advantages include the ability to communicate with fellow classmates from around the country. However, a common problem of usual e-learning approach is the lack of face-to-face interaction with a teacher. The most obvious solution to overcome this problem is to include a real-time multipoint audio-video channel to provide synchronous communications between teacher and students. This paper starts from an implementation experience of an e-learning platform for synchronous interaction between the actors, keeping "low-cost" as the main requirement of the deployment, to give the possibility to any user to participate at home using a domestic Internet access and a base-level personal computer. This paper proposes a software-based platform to provide multipoint communications in a heterogeneous unicast/multicast environment. It is constituted by a number of S-MCUs (software MCUs). Each S-MCU runs on a low-cost computer and is implemented like a software router by using click. Design, implementation and performance issues are discussed by a comparative numerical analysis.