Industry Sponsored Student Projects


Enterprise SIP Interoperability - Study and Recommendations


Sponsors: Nokia; SIP Forum

In this project we are developing a data base of information related to the interoperabiliy of IP PBXes and SIP User Agents. The data base will be used to create a set of recommendations about SIP header fields, parameters and extensions that should be used to ensure interoperability. The SIP Forum’s SIPConnect Recommendation is a model for our work.  That recommendation provides guidance on interoperability between an IP PBX and a SIP Trunk Service Provider. The current project seeks to provide similar guidance on interoperability between an IP PBX and a SIP Phone.

One challenge to the adoption of SIP-based services is the lack of an industry-level recommendation or set of requirements that all User Agents and Proxies should meet to ensure interoperability.   The SIP specification (RFC3261) identifies the protocol requirements for User Agents and Proxies, but, since implementations may be conformant but may still fail to interoperate, an additional layer of guidance is needed by the enterprises that deploy SIP-based services and by the vendors that sell to them.

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SIP Trunk Interoperability Testing

  

Sponsors: Cbeyond

The goal of this project is to compare the characteristic behaviors and performance of a SIPConnect-compliant SIP Trunk with a set of commercial and open-source IP PBXes. IP PBX’es by TrixBox, Asterisk, Nortel, Cisco and Epygi are among the systems under test. Outcomes of this project include a test plan that identifies the SIPConnect Recommendations; a conformance statement for each system under test identifying which of the recommendations are/are not supported; a data base containing the configuration parameters used to configure the systems under test; a data base containing traces of the messages exchanged between the SUT and the Cbeyond network during a basic call set-up and disconnect. The SIP Trunk is provided by CBeyond, which is also providing mentoring and other support services.

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Media Gateway Interoperability Testing

  

Sponsors: Paetec , Dialogic

Paetec and Dialogic are supporting interoperability testing between the Paetec Dynamic SIP Trunk service and the Dialogic SIP-enabled Media Gateway product, providing  product, services and technical support.  An interoperability test plan and test cases will be run and the results will include: a summary of the pass/fail results with comments and recommendation; a data store containing protocol traces taken while the tests are running. Students will also assess the system’s conformance to the SIPConnect Recommendation, using their own conformance test plan.

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Data Theft via RTP - Detection and Prevention

  

Sponsors: Salare Security

This set of projects is designed to clarify the behaviors of legitimate and illegitimate users of RTP and more generally, of connection-oriented applications. They are all designed to obtain a statistical view and analysis of the behavior of the cooperating nodes.  The goal is to find a way to use statistical analysis to identify illegitimate streams based on their behaviors without doing deep packet inspection.

The Salare Security solution originated from a project begun several years ago in the IIT VoIP Lab. The project demonstrated that it was possible to steal data through the RTP stream created by a VoIP application. The project further demonstrated a method to prevent such theft without the use of deep packet inspection. The current project seeks to refine this work by targeting suspect RTP flows and thus minimizing the need to apply the prevention techniques.  

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SIP AAA Solution - Routing, Provisioning and Performance

  

Sponsor: InCharge Systems

InCharge System ACerted Trust solution is an application that provides authentication and confidentiality using the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). The solution binds a user’s identity to a public/private key pair and all subscribers can use the pairs for mutual authentication and confidentiality/integrity protection.  ICS has been installed in the VoIP Lab since summer 2008.  Project work during this time had included: Calculation of the “performance cost” of using this security solution; Integration of  the solution into a lab test bed ; Installation of the solution on virtual machines and characterization tests of the routing, address resolution and performance parameters when calls are placed over a multi-tiered heierarachy of DNS domains. On-site Internships allow the students to work on real-world development challenges that will have direct application to the work they will do after graduation.    

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SIP AAA Solution - Integration onto an Asterisk platform

  

Sponsor: InCharge Systems

This project involves integrating InCharge Systems' ACerted Identity solution (see above) with the Asterisk IP PBX software.  The students are developing the software and will perform a set of tests that demonstrate the successful integration.   Next steps will include integrating the ICS solution onto selected SIP UAs.

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Peered SIP Domains - Test Bed Development and Integration

  

Sponsors: IIT and VoIP Lab Industry Sponsors

The Peered SIP Domains Test Bed is a stand-alone lab system with a Root DNS server and a multilayered hierarchy of Domains each with its own SIP Proxy, DNS, and UAs. It allows us to test whether SIP components can locate SIP servers, the methods they use and the latency and performance hit associated with the process. The location of SIP servers and SIP UAs is one key challenge for the global deployment of VoIP solutions.  The test bed allows us to plug in different proxies and UAs separated by different levels of DNS server and to observe the overall success and latency associated with different configurations.  A data base of latencies and performance characteristics of different Proxies and UAs is being built and maintained as part of this project.

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IMS Empirical Study - Optimization of Element Placement

  

Sponsors: IIT, University of Connecticut, Alcatel-Lucent

The goal of this project is to provide empirical data for research related to the placement of the four key IMS functional elements within a service provider's network. IMS is an architecture deployed by some Telephone Service Providers to enable the integration of fixed and mobile endpoints as well as the distribution of applications. One challenge faced by the TSP is to optimize the location of the various CSCF's that are part of the archticture - the P, the I and the S, relative to the HSS. The VoIP Lab uses the Open IMS Core elements developed by the Fraunhofer-FOKUS group as a test bed and sends various call loads through the configurations. The loads are created using the Open IMS Bench test tool.

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Voice over IIT - A VoIP Service for the IIT Community

  

Sponsors: IIT and VoIP Lab Industry Sponsors

Voice over IIT is a VoIP telephone service available to the IIT community and its friends and supporters.  The system, designed, built and maintained by VoIP students, is based on the Asterisk open software solution and employs the Digium media gateway. Subscribers are able to place video calls and create IP-based conference calls; They receive voice mail services that include email delivery of the voice mail.  Subscribers include remote National and International users. Besides its direct benefit to its subscriber base, the system also provides usage data including arrival rates, inter-arrival times, and call hold times.  It can also serve as a test bed on which commercial SIP UAs can be tested for their interoperability and performance and on which embedded applications of various types can be studied. 

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Voice over IIT - Lab System for Feature and Application Integration

  

Sponsors: IIT and VoIP Lab Industry Sponsors

The VoIIT Lab system is a test bed on which we integrate new features, functions and applications before adding them to the production VoIIT system. Integration, configuration and test are done on a lab system that mirrors the production system but is separate from it. Today the lab system is being used as the launching pad from which the ICS security solution and the Cbeyond and Paetec systems will be integrated into VoIIT.  The Salare System, currently part of the production system, was first integrated here. Information collected during the integration process supports the integration with the live system and becomes part of the lab's archive.

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