A Simulation Tool for Evaluating Video Streaming Architectures in Vehicular Network Scenarios

Abstract

An integrated simulation tool called Video Delivery Simulation Framework over Vehicular Networks (VDSF-VN) is presented. This framework is intended to allow users to conduct experiments related to video transmission in vehicular networks by means of simulation. Research on this topic requires the use of many independent tools, such as traffic and network simulators, intermediate frameworks, video encoders and decoders, converters, platform-dependent scripting languages, data visualisation packages and spreadsheets, and some other tasks are performed manually. The lack of tools necessary to carry out all these tasks in an integrated and efficient way formed the motivation for the development of the VDSF-VN framework. It is managed via two user-friendly applications, GatcomSUMO and GatcomVideo, which allow all the necessary tasks to be accomplished. The first is primarily used to build the network scenario and set up the traffic flows, whereas the second involves the delivery process of the whole video, encoding/decoding video, running simulations, and processing all the experimental results to automatically provide the requested figures, tables and reports. This multiplatform framework is intended to fill the existing gap in this field, and has been successfully used in several experimental tests of vehicular networks.

A Multi-Channel Packet Scheduling Approach to Improving Video Delivery Performance in Vehicular Networks

“…To evaluate our proposal, we conducted a set of simulations within an urban scenario. We used the Video Delivery Simulation Framework over Vehicular Networks (VDSF-VN) [29], a simulation tool that simplifies the video-encoding and the performance evaluation processes from the design of the appropriate vehicular network scenario (maps, nodes, mobility, etc.) and the simulation management (scheduling, running, results storage) to the processing of evaluation results, via the arrangement of a set of performance metrics and their representation in the form of diagrams, graphs, plots, and reports.…”

Content Caching and Distribution Policies for Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs): Modeling and Simulation

“…Implemented simulators for evaluation of content distribution over VANETs include [17][18][19] and are often tailored to specific video codecs and packetizers, e.g., the simulator proposed in [20] compares the quality of MPEG4 video transmissions in terms of the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), jitter, loss rate, etc.…”