DIstributed SImulation & Online gaming Workshop

Research Article

Mobile games through the nets: a cross-layer architecture for seamless playing

  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/ICST.SIMUTOOLS2010.8656,
        author={Vittorio  Ghini and Stefano  Ferretti and Fabio  Panzieri},
        title={Mobile games through the nets: a cross-layer architecture for seamless playing},
        proceedings={DIstributed SImulation \& Online gaming Workshop},
        publisher={ACM},
        proceedings_a={DISIO},
        year={2010},
        month={5},
        keywords={Mobile gaming wireless networks cross-layer architectures.},
        doi={10.4108/ICST.SIMUTOOLS2010.8656}
    }
    
  • Vittorio Ghini
    Stefano Ferretti
    Fabio Panzieri
    Year: 2010
    Mobile games through the nets: a cross-layer architecture for seamless playing
    DISIO
    ICST
    DOI: 10.4108/ICST.SIMUTOOLS2010.8656
Vittorio Ghini1,*, Stefano Ferretti1,*, Fabio Panzieri1,*
  • 1: Department of Computer Science, University of Bologna, Mura Anteo Zamboni 7, 40127, Bologna, Italy.
*Contact email: ghini@cs.unibo.it, sferrett@cs.unibo.it, panzieri@cs.unibo.it

Abstract

Mobile games are characterized by the need to exploit responsive and reliable communication protocols, in order to guarantee that players can perceive a fluid and dynamic game-play evolution. Current approaches to the provision of support for this kind of real-time applications are generally based on the use of a single wireless network, as the transit from a network to another (or even changing the network service provider, while using the same network interface) causes a temporary reconfiguration of both the operating system and the network interface it is exploiting. This indeed results in a pause of game events processing at the application (game) level, which may give rise to a jerky game evolution. In order to overcome this problem, in this paper we propose the use of a cross-layer architecture which allows mobile devices to concurrently exploit different network interfaces so as to offer seamless and uninterrupted communications among the entities involved in the game. A smart adaptation algorithm balances the load between different network interfaces, based on the performances these are offering. The proposed approach can be viably implemented in client/server as well as in mirrored game server architectures. Experimental results conducted on a real field confirm both the adequacy and the effectiveness of our proposal.