Abstract: A network gateway comprises a buffer and a transmission module that is configured to transmit packets of a data stream from a source device to a user device via a network medium. The packets of the data stream are received from the source device by an uplink connection between the source device and the gateway, the packets are temporarily stored in the buffer and the packets are transmitted from the buffer to the user device by a downlink connection between the user device and the gateway, such that the downlink connection depends on the uplink connection. Furthermore, the network gateway comprises a protection module that is configured to provide a protection of the uplink connection, wherein access to the network medium is reserved for the packets of the data stream of the uplink connection.

Abstract: A method is described including determining if a downlink data packet needs to be transmitted, transmitting the downlink data packet, determining if an uplink data packet has been received, determining if the received uplink data packet was transmitted by a protected station and performing scheduling. An apparatus is described including a scheduling module which controls access opportunities of protected uplinks and protected downlinks, the scheduling module is in communication with an uplink profiler and a medium access module, the uplink profiler module maintains statistics regarding the protected uplinks and the uplink profiler is in communication with the scheduling module and the medium access module performs actual transmission of data and the medium access module is in communication with the scheduling module.

Abstract: This relates to message propagation in an opportunistic communication network. Nodes of the network each have a ranking which is compared when the nodes connect, and message is transferred from one node to the other in dependence on the relative values of their respective rankings. The ranking is dependent on a plurality of parameters. One parameter is a social parameter determined by the social contacts of a user associate with a node, for example determined from the contact directory of that person either locally or from a central database such that located on a Face book servicer. Another parameter is the number of physical connections established by a node. The ranking values of connecting nodes is updated when they connect. By combining both parameters, a more efficient forwarding path for messages is obtained.

Abstract: A laser interferometer is disclosed comprising a housing capable of being substantially repeatably mounted to a wall of an environmental chamber, the housing including a laser source, a reflector attached to an object located within the environmental chamber, and a light passage provided through the wall of the environmental chamber enabling passage of a laser beam from the laser source to the reflector. At least one beam steerer may be provided for adjusting direction of passage of a laser beam through the light passage. Also disclosed is a column laser interferometer.

Abstract: A packet network employing a reservation-based protocol system includes routers having processing sections that schedule message processing of the protocol's control messages adaptively based on link utilization. A scheduler of the processing section employs a round-robin scheduling with adaptive weight assignment to allocate processing capacity for control messages. For the RSVP protocol, for example, messages are grouped in classes, and link utilization of the packet flows for each message class is monitored. Weights corresponding to a portion of the processing section's processing capacity are allocated to each message class. The weights are defined based on link utilization for the message class and average message queue length. For processing sections monitoring multiple links, weights are further defined for super-classes based on overall link utilization. Weights may change as link utilization and average message size changes.