User and Network Interplay in Internet Telemicroscopy

Remote access of electron microscopes over the Internet (i.e., Telemicroscopy) is a unique network-dependent immersive multimedia application. It demands high-resolution (2D and 3D) video image transfers with simultaneous real-time mouse and keyboard controls. Consequently, user Quality of Experience (QoE) is highly sensitive to network bottlenecks caused by cross-traffic congestion and network faults. Further, improper user control while reacting to impaired video caused due to network bottlenecks could result in physical damages to the microscope that are prohibitively expensive to fix. Hence, it is vital to understand the interplay between: (a) the user keyboard/mouse actions (i.e., TCP control traffic) towards the microscope and (b) the corresponding network reactions for transport of microscope video images (i.e., RTP media traffic) towards the user. In this paper, we present an analytical model for characterizing user and network interplay during Telemicroscopy sessions in terms of demand and supply interplay principles of economics, respectively. To study the trends of the model parameters, we use data obtained from QoE experiments conducted on a Telemicroscopy testbed involving actual users as well as both LAN and WAN network paths. Also, we describe an application called Remote Instrumentation Collaboration Environment (RICE) we are developing that leverages our user and network interplay characterization studies to provide optimum user QoE and also reliably support Internet Telemicroscopy.