Robust P2P Live Streaming

Projecte fet en col.laboració amb la Fundació i2CATThe provisioning of robust real-time communication services (voice, video, etc.) or media contents through the Internet in a distributed manner is an important challenge, which will strongly influence in current and future Internet evolution. Aware of this, we are developing a project named Trilogy leaded by the i2CAT Foundation, which has as main pillar the study, development and evaluation of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Live streaming architectures for the distribution of high-quality media contents. In this context, this work concretely covers media coding aspects and proposes the use of Multiple Description Coding (MDC) as a flexible solution for providing robust and scalable live streaming over P2P networks. This work describes current state of the art in media coding techniques and P2P streaming architectures, presents the implemented prototype as well as its simulation and validation results

Development of advanced multimedia services in P2P architectures

La transmissió de fluxos multimèdia en temps real (streaming) s’ha convertit en un tema punter i de gran interès al món de la recerca d’Internet, especialment quan ens referim a aplicacions de transmissió d’àudio i vídeo en directe a través de xarxes peer-to-peer (P2P). Generalment, aquestes aplicacions han de fer front a molts problemes en el seu disseny i implementació deguts a la dinamicitat i heterogeneïtat que per natura caracteritzen les xarxes P2P. En aquest projecte, s’introdueixen noves característiques que les aplicacions de transmissió multimèdia P2P actuals no contemplen. Els requisits de connexió i maquinari són diferents per a la transmissió de fluxos de baixa i alta capacitat, no obstant, tots els nodes s’acostumen a considerar idèntics, cosa que no representa una aproximació gaire encertada tenint en compte un medi tan heterogeni. A més a més, amb la finalitat d’aconseguir distinció entre nodes, es fa necessari la introducció d’un mecanisme que permeti l’intercanvi de les capacitats específiques de cada node, incloent-hi les de transcodificació de fluxos. Un altre aspecte a destacar és el fet que aquestes aplicacions són difícils d’ampliar, incorporar nous serveis o modificar les dades que porten precarregades com ara la llista de canals de televisió disponibles, cosa que impossibilita garantir la disponibilitat de la font tot el temps. Per altra banda, els serveis interactius tampoc s’han desenvolupat gaire. Aquest projecte proposa el disseny i implementació d’una plataforma de difusió multimèdia P2P cooperativa i interactiva que permet superar els problemes esmentats. La plataforma integra diferents mecanismes que permeten la distribució en temps real de continguts multimèdia en diferents qualitats incloent fluxos d’alta capacitat (com per exemple HD). Aquesta plataforma és una solució novedosa basada en JXTA, DONET i ALM (Arbres Multicast a nivell d’Aplicació) que proporciona un sistema ampliable segons noves necessitats i facilita la inserció de nous serveis de valor afegit. La plataforma proposada es fonamenta en la creació d’una arquitectura de 2 capes lògiques superposades: una capa lògica JXTA, encarregada bàsicament de la senyalització i intercanvi de metadades, i una capa de transmissió basada en sockets UDP unicast. D’aquesta manera, la diferència entre la capa de transmissió i la capa física es pot veure reduïda a partir de la informació obtinguda de la capa JXTA, la qual es va actualitzant al llarg del temps

Sistema de localización multimedia distribuido

El proyecto se sitúa en un contexto donde hay multitud de recursos multimedia en una red heterogénea y un usuario quiere encontrarlos para poder reproducirlos. Por tanto, se debe definir un mecanismo para permitir al usuario localizar dichos recursos. El objetivo que se persigue en este proyecto es el estudio de diferentes tecnologías para implementar una arquitectura de localización de recursos multimedia y por lo tanto de acceso a éstos. Se contemplan 2 arquitecturas: centralizada y distribuida Peer to Peer (P2P). En este proyecto se han estudiado principalmente 2 tecnologías que se implementarán en un entorno Java: Servicios Web para el escenario centralizado y JXTA para el entorno distribuido. Para lograr nuestro objetivo se ha hecho un estudio de ambas tecnologías así como de sus componentes. Posteriormente se han realizado diferentes pruebas para comprobar su funcionamiento. Una vez se tiene claro el funcionamiento de ambas tecnologías se ha diseñado la arquitectura centralizada y distribuida. La implementación del diseño se ha llevado a cabo de manera secuencial, de modo que a partir de un programa sencillo se han añadido funcionalidades. Finalmente, se ha conseguido implementar una arquitectura centralizada en la que un usuario puede consultar, publicar y eliminar recursos y una arquitectura distribuida en la que un usuario puede descubrir a otros usuarios, crear grupos, publicar sus servicios, encontrar nuevos servicios y hablar con otros usuarios

Robust P2P Live Streaming

Projecte fet en col.laboració amb la Fundació i2CATThe provisioning of robust real-time communication services (voice, video, etc.) or media contents through the Internet in a distributed manner is an important challenge, which will strongly influence in current and future Internet evolution. Aware of this, we are developing a project named Trilogy leaded by the i2CAT Foundation, which has as main pillar the study, development and evaluation of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Live streaming architectures for the distribution of high-quality media contents. In this context, this work concretely covers media coding aspects and proposes the use of Multiple Description Coding (MDC) as a flexible solution for providing robust and scalable live streaming over P2P networks. This work describes current state of the art in media coding techniques and P2P streaming architectures, presents the implemented prototype as well as its simulation and validation results

Sistema de localización multimedia distribuido

El proyecto se sitúa en un contexto donde hay multitud de recursos multimedia en una red heterogénea y un usuario quiere encontrarlos para poder reproducirlos. Por tanto, se debe definir un mecanismo para permitir al usuario localizar dichos recursos. El objetivo que se persigue en este proyecto es el estudio de diferentes tecnologías para implementar una arquitectura de localización de recursos multimedia y por lo tanto de acceso a éstos. Se contemplan 2 arquitecturas: centralizada y distribuida Peer to Peer (P2P). En este proyecto se han estudiado principalmente 2 tecnologías que se implementarán en un entorno Java: Servicios Web para el escenario centralizado y JXTA para el entorno distribuido. Para lograr nuestro objetivo se ha hecho un estudio de ambas tecnologías así como de sus componentes. Posteriormente se han realizado diferentes pruebas para comprobar su funcionamiento. Una vez se tiene claro el funcionamiento de ambas tecnologías se ha diseñado la arquitectura centralizada y distribuida. La implementación del diseño se ha llevado a cabo de manera secuencial, de modo que a partir de un programa sencillo se han añadido funcionalidades. Finalmente, se ha conseguido implementar una arquitectura centralizada en la que un usuario puede consultar, publicar y eliminar recursos y una arquitectura distribuida en la que un usuario puede descubrir a otros usuarios, crear grupos, publicar sus servicios, encontrar nuevos servicios y hablar con otros usuarios

Flexible media transport framework based on service composition for future network

This work introduces common guidelines defined in several standardization organisms towards future networks based on the actual mechanisms and protocols used to treat the multimedia data, most of them placed in the application layer of the OSI reference model.Peer ReviewedPreprin

Enabling SCI-FI: service-oriented context-aware and intelligent future Internet

Internet is becoming a huge heterogeneous and dynamic network that is growing beyond its architectural limits. The scaling up of the number of communicating nodes and services is leading the Internet to an architectural crisis which in turn makes it difficult to provide services efficiently considering the requirements and context conditions of users. The Information-Centric Networking (ICN) approach proposes a network where the main paradigm is not an end-to-end communication between hosts, as in the current Internet. Instead, an increasing demand for efficient distribution of content has motivated the development of architectures that focus on information objects. ICN supports the proliferation of services and contents allowing seamless access to them. This work proposes a context-aware service negotiation protocol which will enable to find and compose services whilst meeting requesters’ requirements and, consequently, maximizing the QoE of users. We also provide the main details of a first implementation of the proposed service-oriented solution (SCI-FI) and discuss the gathered results.Postprint (published version

Evaluating MDC with incentives in P2PTV systems

The popularity of P2P video streaming is raising the interest of broadcasters, operators and service providers. Concretely, mesh-pull based P2P systems are the most extended ones. Despite these systems address scalability efficiently, they still present limitations that difficult them to offer the same user experience in comparison with traditional TV. These ones are mainly the freeriding effect, long start-up delays and the impact of churn and bandwidth heterogeneity. In this paper we study the performance of Multiple Description Coding (MDC) combined with the use of incentives for redistribution in order to mitigate some of them by means of simulations. Simulation results show that the use of MDC and incentive-based scheduling strategies improve the overall performance of the system. Moreover, an extended version of the P2PTVSim simulator has been developed to support MDC and incentives.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Source identification of amphetamine-like stimulants in Spanish wastewater through enantiomeric profiling

Amphetamine (AMP), methamphetamine (MAMP) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) occur in wastewater not only as a result of illicit consumption, but also, in some cases, from prescription drug use or by direct drug disposal into the sewage system. Enantiomeric profiling of these chiral drugs could give more insight into the origin of their occurrence. In this manuscript, a new analytical methodology for the enantiomeric analysis of amphetamine-like substances in wastewater has been developed. The method consists of a solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), which showed low quantification limits in the 2.4–5.5 ng L−1 range. The LC-MS/MS method was first applied to characterize a total of 38 solid street drug samples anonymously provided by consumers. The results of these analysis showed that AMP and MDMA trafficked into Spain are synthesized as racemate, while MAMP is exclusively produced as the S(+)-enantiomer. Then, the analytical method was employed to analyse urban wastewater samples collected from the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) of five different cities in 2018 and 2019. Consumption estimated through normalized population loads in wastewater showed an increased pattern of AMP use in the Basque Country. Furthermore, the enantiomeric profiling of wastewater samples was contrasted to lisdexamfetamine (LIS) and selegiline (SEL) prescription figures, two pharmaceuticals which metabolize to S(+)-AMP, and to R(-)-AMP and R(-)-MAMP, respectively. From this analysis, and considering uncertainties derived from metabolism and adherence to treatment, it was concluded that LIS is a relevant source of AMP in those cases with low wastewater loads, i.e. up to a maximum of 60% of AMP detected in wastewater in some samples could originate from LIS prescription, while SEL does not represent a significant source of AMP nor MAMP. Finally, removal efficiencies could be evaluated for the WWTP (serving ca. 860,000 inhabitants) with higher AMP influent concentrations. The removal of AMP was satisfactory with rates higher than 99%, whereas MDMA showed an average removal of approximately 60%, accompanied by an enrichment of R(-)-MDMAThis study was supported by MINECO/MICINN/AEI projects (CTM2016-81935-REDT, CTM2017-84763-C3-2-R, CTM2017-84763-C3-1-R, CTM2017-84763-C3-3-R, PID2020-117686RB-C32, PID2020-117686RB-C31, PID2020-117686RB-C33), Galician Council of Culture, Education and Universities (ED481D-2017/003, ED431C-2017/36, ED481A-2020/258 and ED431C 2021/06), cofounded by FEDER/ERDF. UJI authors acknowledge the financial support of Generalitat Valenciana (Excellence Research Group, Prometeo 2019/040). Alberto Celma acknowledges the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for his predoctoral Grant (BES-2016-076914). Vanessa Gutmann acknowledges the support of the ERASMUS+ program.S

Contributions to the future media internet using service-oriented architectures

Nowadays, video streaming applications are the most bandwidth-hungry applications and this tendency is envisaged to grow exponentially. With the proliferation of multimedia capable devices, multimedia services have to deal with heterogeneous environments where very different types of terminals wish to receive content anywhere and anytime. This situation motivates the appearance of multimedia services that adapt contents to the specific context of users. These services can benefit from the use of different technologies for content delivery (e.g. Peer-to-Peer and Network Coding), media signalling (e.g. SIP and P2P protocols), media representation (e.g. MPEG-7 and MPEG-21) or multimedia scalable and robust codification (e.g. Multiple Description Coding and Scalable Video Coding). However, current Internet architecture is based on a rigid layered model (TCP/IP-based) following the, no longer valid, end-to-end argument, which makes difficult to introduce new functionalities efficiently. To solve this, Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) principles seem to fit in the proposal of new architectures for a more flexible Future Internet based on services that can be invoked when and where necessary. The objectives of this PhD. Thesis are exploring and validating different mechanisms for enabling Future Media Internet communications. To achieve this, we apply the SOA paradigm to provide efficient context-aware multimedia communications in the Future Internet. This work proposes solutions to enable the seamless provisioning of multimedia services in the Future Internet by means of context-aware service discovery and composition processes which are integrated in a novel service-oriented clean-slate architecture. One goal is to provide adapted and personalized services, dealing with high dynamic and heterogeneous environments. For this reason, this thesis includes research on novel media coding techniques (Multiple Description Coding, Scalable Video Coding) and distribution techniques (Peer-to-Peer, Network Coding) that can be applied to achieve seamless media communications. Moreover, context-aware service composition will address the requirements of media services (and any service in general), access methods, devices and interactions. This work presents a radical view of the Future Internet, where the necessary functionalities for accomplishing communications, in user devices, in the network and at all levels are considered as services. Services are not fixed but dynamically composed where and when necessary, with respect to user service requirements, network transfer capabilities and surrounding context in the user and the network environments. Composition of basic network-level services calls for a clean-slate approach to the Internet, while composition of higher level (transport and application) services prompts for an evolutionary approach. Nevertheless, composition of communication services manifests itself as a revolutionary way of looking communications and building communication systems. This PhD. Thesis introduces two main architectural innovations clearly beyond current state of the art. Firstly, a Service- Oriented framework able to deal with (existing) functionality at all levels (connectivity, transport, application) by considering the provided service and not the technology behind the functionality. All these service functionalities can be seen as services thanks to suitable service-oriented abstractions that allow including existing functionality/protocols as well as new functionality in a flexible way. Secondly, we present a novel service-oriented clean-slate architecture generalizing Information- Centric Networking (ICN) approaches. This work would propose the first clean-slate architecture completely aligned with the work done within the ISO Future Networks working grou