Internet-based real-time communication system

Abstract

This thesis describes the development of a network-based real-time communication system. Unlike conventional Instant Messaging systems, which are well known for their abilities to handle one-to-one communication on the fly, this system shall focus mainly on many-to-many communication based on IP multicast. The communication system consists of a messaging server, a database server, a database administrator module, a transcript repository, messaging clients and a set of messaging gateways. A user is able to initiate and/or participate in multiple concurrent communication sessions, each comprising of many users. Communication in text, audio and data modes are carried out using multicast. Besides improving scalability, bandwidth efficiency and timeliness of response, multicast also provides a straightforward means for managing session membership. However, integrating multicast support into a communication system is a challenge. Various approaches for addressing the issues of coordination, security and reliability of data transfer are described.