DiffServ extensions to dynamic link states and bandwidths for QoS-aware mobile networking applications

Differentiated service (DiffServ) is currently the only known QoS provisioning mechanism that is compatible to in-line network encryptors (INE) for military networking applications. However, DiffServ typically assumes stable link bandwidth capacity and interconnectivity state in QoS provisioning; this is not the case in a dynamic ad-hoc mobile network environment. There will be a need for "DiffServ extensions" to account for the dynamic link state and bandwidth characteristics in such a dynamic mobile environment. We have implemented DiffServ on a Linux router using Linux traffic control (TC) elements of queuing disciplines, classes, and filters. We have designed and Implemented QoS service provider (QoS-SP) that performs two main functions. One function is to response to notifications from the link/physical layer indicating that link state and/or the available network/link bandwidth characteristics have changed. The second function is to respond to QoS requests from QoS-aware applications through QoS Application Programming Interface (API). In this paper, we provide the design and implementation details of the DiffServ extensions to dynamic link states and bandwidth characteristics; QoS services provider, and QoS API for QoS-aware applications