A new architecture for storage area networks (SANs) is proposed for providing efficient information processing and transportation. We deviate from the byte stream oriented transmission control protocol (TCP) transport mechanism to more storage friendly block oriented transport. Data is processed, encrypted, error checked, redundantly encoded, and stored in fixed size blocks called quanta. Each quantum is processed by an effective cross-layer protocol that collapses the protocol stack for security, iWARP and iSCSI functions, transport control, and even redundant arrays of inexpensive disk (RAID) storage. This streamlining produces a highly efficient protocol with fewer memory copies and places most of the computational burden and security safeguard on the client, while the target stores quanta from many clients with minimal processing. We propose a new network RAID storage method using the quantum concept. Also, we unify error control and flow control of the iSCSI and TCP protocols in a manner we believe is more suitable for high data rate and low latency storage applications.

We deal with the problem of topology control for mobile ad hoc networks. Based on an asymptotic result on k-connectivity, a simple scheme for topology control is proposed. The scheme is used to generate several topologies under highly mobile conditions. Through simulation and analysis we show that this scheme results in high connectivity even under mobile conditions as the number of nodes increase. We also show that even though the scheme uses varying transmit power, the overall power consumption in the network remains relatively the same, and is less than using constant transmit power as the number of nodes increases. In order to use the scheme, the nodes need to he uniformly distributed. We prove that under periodic boundary conditions the stationary distribution of nodes, moving according to (a variant of) the random waypoint model, is uniform.

In this paper, we consider the problem of designing a topology for deploying a free space optical (FSO) link based network. The problem is to create a topology with strong connectivity and short diameter with uniform degree bounds on each node. Two centralized approaches are presented. The first approach constructs a backbone network by Delaunay triangulation. The basic structure is then refined to meet the design objectives. The second approach called the closest neighbor (CN) algorithm constructs a degree constrained minimum weight spanning tree. The tree is developed into a network with good connectivity and small diameter by forming edges with the closest neighbors. We prove that the CN algorithm forms a connected network. Through simulation and analysis we also show that this approach results in high reliability and small diameter.