QoE in Pull Based P2P-TV Systems: Overlay Topology Design Tradeoff

Abstract—This paper presents a systematic performance anal-ysis of pull P2P video streaming systems for live applications, providing guidelines for the design of the overlay topology and the chunk scheduling algorithm. The contribution of the paper is threefold: 1) we propose a realistic simulative model of the system that represents the effects of access bandwidth heterogeneity, latencies, peculiar characteristics of the video, while still guaranteeing good scalability properties; 2) we propose a new latency/bandwidth-aware overlay topology design strategy that improves application layer performance while reducing the underlying transport network stress; 3) we investigate the impact of chunk scheduling algorithms that explicitly exploit properties of encoded video. Results show that our proposal jointly improves the actual Quality of Experience of users and reduces the cost the transport network has to support. I

Adaptive Streaming in P2P Live Video Systems: A Distributed Rate Control Approach

Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) is a recently proposed standard that offers different versions of the same media content to adapt the delivery process over the Internet to dynamic bandwidth fluctuations and different user device capabilities. The peer-to-peer (P2P) paradigm for video streaming allows to leverage the cooperation among peers, guaranteeing to serve every video request with increased scalability and reduced cost. We propose to combine these two approaches in a P2P-DASH architecture, exploiting the potentiality of both. The new platform is made of several swarms, and a different DASH representation is streamed within each of them; unlike client-server DASH architectures, where each client autonomously selects which version to download according to current network conditions and to its device resources, we put forth a new rate control strategy implemented at peer site to maintain a good viewing quality to the local user and to simultaneously guarantee the successful operation of the P2P swarms. The effectiveness of the solution is demonstrated through simulation and it indicates that the P2P-DASH platform is able to warrant its users a very good performance, much more satisfying than in a conventional P2P environment where DASH is not employed. Through a comparison with a reference DASH system modeled via the Integer Linear Programming (ILP) approach, the new system is shown to outperform such reference architecture. To further validate the proposal, both in terms of robustness and scalability, system behavior is investigated in the critical condition of a flash crowd, showing that the strong upsurge of new users can be successfully revealed and gradually accommodated.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figures, this work has been submitted to the IEEE journal on selected Area in Communication

Modeling and Evaluation of Multisource Streaming Strategies in P2P VoD Systems

In recent years, multimedia content distribution has largely been moved to the Internet, inducing broadcasters, operators and service providers to upgrade with large expenses their infrastructures. In this context, streaming solutions that rely on user devices such as set-top boxes (STBs) to offload dedicated streaming servers are particularly appropriate. In these systems, contents are usually replicated and scattered over the network established by STBs placed at users' home, and the video-on-demand (VoD) service is provisioned through streaming sessions established among neighboring STBs following a Peer-to-Peer fashion. Up to now the majority of research works have focused on the design and optimization of content replicas mechanisms to minimize server costs. The optimization of replicas mechanisms has been typically performed either considering very crude system performance indicators or analyzing asymptotic behavior. In this work, instead, we propose an analytical model that complements previous works providing fairly accurate predictions of system performance (i.e., blocking probability). Our model turns out to be a highly scalable, flexible, and extensible tool that may be helpful both for designers and developers to efficiently predict the effect of system design choices in large scale STB-VoD system

Multimedia delivery in the future internet

The term “Networked Media” implies that all kinds of media including text, image, 3D graphics, audio and video are produced, distributed, shared, managed and consumed on-line through various networks, like the Internet, Fiber, WiFi, WiMAX, GPRS, 3G and so on, in a convergent manner [1]. This white paper is the contribution of the Media Delivery Platform (MDP) cluster and aims to cover the Networked challenges of the Networked Media in the transition to the Future of the Internet. Internet has evolved and changed the way we work and live. End users of the Internet have been confronted with a bewildering range of media, services and applications and of technological innovations concerning media formats, wireless networks, terminal types and capabilities. And there is little evidence that the pace of this innovation is slowing. Today, over one billion of users access the Internet on regular basis, more than 100 million users have downloaded at least one (multi)media file and over 47 millions of them do so regularly, searching in more than 160 Exabytes1 of content. In the near future these numbers are expected to exponentially rise. It is expected that the Internet content will be increased by at least a factor of 6, rising to more than 990 Exabytes before 2012, fuelled mainly by the users themselves. Moreover, it is envisaged that in a near- to mid-term future, the Internet will provide the means to share and distribute (new) multimedia content and services with superior quality and striking flexibility, in a trusted and personalized way, improving citizens’ quality of life, working conditions, edutainment and safety. In this evolving environment, new transport protocols, new multimedia encoding schemes, cross-layer inthe network adaptation, machine-to-machine communication (including RFIDs), rich 3D content as well as community networks and the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) overlays are expected to generate new models of interaction and cooperation, and be able to support enhanced perceived quality-of-experience (PQoE) and innovative applications “on the move”, like virtual collaboration environments, personalised services/ media, virtual sport groups, on-line gaming, edutainment. In this context, the interaction with content combined with interactive/multimedia search capabilities across distributed repositories, opportunistic P2P networks and the dynamic adaptation to the characteristics of diverse mobile terminals are expected to contribute towards such a vision. Based on work that has taken place in a number of EC co-funded projects, in Framework Program 6 (FP6) and Framework Program 7 (FP7), a group of experts and technology visionaries have voluntarily contributed in this white paper aiming to describe the status, the state-of-the art, the challenges and the way ahead in the area of Content Aware media delivery platforms

AngelCast: cloud-based peer-assisted live streaming using optimized multi-tree construction

Increasingly, commercial content providers (CPs) offer streaming solutions using peer-to-peer (P2P) architectures, which promises significant scalabil- ity by leveraging clients’ upstream capacity. A major limitation of P2P live streaming is that playout rates are constrained by clients’ upstream capac- ities – typically much lower than downstream capacities – which limit the quality of the delivered stream. To leverage P2P architectures without sacri- ficing quality, CPs must commit additional resources to complement clients’ resources. In this work, we propose a cloud-based service AngelCast that enables CPs to complement P2P streaming. By subscribing to AngelCast, a CP is able to deploy extra resources (angel), on-demand from the cloud, to maintain a desirable stream quality. Angels do not download the whole stream, nor are they in possession of it. Rather, angels only relay the minimal fraction of the stream necessary to achieve the desired quality. We provide a lower bound on the minimum angel capacity needed to maintain a desired client bit-rate, and develop a fluid model construction to achieve it. Realizing the limitations of the fluid model construction, we design a practical multi- tree construction that captures the spirit of the optimal construction, and avoids its limitations. We present a prototype implementation of AngelCast, along with experimental results confirming the feasibility of our service.Supported in part by NSF awards #0720604, #0735974, #0820138, #0952145, #1012798 #1012798 #1430145 #1414119. (0720604 - NSF; 0735974 - NSF; 0820138 - NSF; 0952145 - NSF; 1012798 - NSF; 1430145 - NSF; 1414119 - NSF