Multi-Residential Gateway: an innovative concept and a practical approach

Abstract

A new concept of Multi-Residential Gateway (MRG) capable of managing several residential units (e.g. homes, flats) simultaneously while offering new additional services is presented. A part from the typical recommendations proposed for residential gateways, specific new requirements are introduced in order to overcome the multi-residential challenge. A novel MRG has been developed fulfilling all the previous constrains. Both the core and the management architectures are explained, with particular emphasis on the networking aspects and its modular firewall/QoS design. An OSGi based platform has been introduced as the best management framework, and its validation is done with the addition of a MRG Parental Control Service.