Dynamic Adaptive Video Streaming on Heterogeneous TVWS and Wi-Fi Networks

Abstract

Nowadays, people usually connect to the internet through a multitude of different devices. Video streaming takes the lion's share of the bandwidth, and represents the real challenge for the service providers and for the research community in general. At the same time, most of the connections come from indoor environments, where Wi-Fi already experiences congestion and coverage holes, which directly translate into a poor experience for the user. A possible relief comes from TV White Space (TVWS) networks, which can enhance the communication range thanks to Sub-GHz frequencies and favorable propagation characteristics, but offer slower datarates compared to other 802.11 protocols. In this paper, we show the benefits that a TVWS network can bring to the end user, and we present CABA, a Connection Aware Balancing Algorithm able to exploit multiple radio connections in favor of a better user experience. Our experimental results indicate that the TVWS network can effectively provide a wider communication range, but a load balancing middleware between the available connections on the device must be used to achieve better performance. We conclude our study by presenting real data coming from field trials in which we streamed an MPEG Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH) video over TVWS and Wi-Fi. Practical quantitative results on the achievable Quality of Experience for the end user are then reported. Our results show that balancing the load between WIFI and TVWS can provide a higher playback quality (up to 15% of average quality index) in scenarios in which the WIFI is received at a low strength.

Adaptive Wi-Fi offloading schemes in heterogeneous networks, the survey

“…Many network access is available today to connect to the internet. Streaming video takes up the largest portion of bandwidth and represents a real challenge for service providers and the research community in general [54]. At the same time, the use of Wi-Fi is very massive in the indoor area.…”

“…Other researchers through connection aware balancing algorithm (CABA) brought to improve TVWS network end users [54]. According to the results of his research showing that the TVWS network can effectively increase the communication range, the drawback is that load balancing middleware is needed to achieve better performance.…”