On the Stability of End-Point-Based Multimedia Streaming

Abstract

Abstract. In this paper we propose an analytical model of a resilient, tree-based end-node multicast streaming architecture that employs path diversity and forward error correction for improved resilience to node churns and packet losses. Using the model and via simulations we study the performance of this architecture in the presence of packet losses and dynamic node behavior. We show that the overlay can distribute data to nodes arbitrarily far away from the root of the trees as long as the loss probability is lower than a certain threshold, but the probability of packet reception suddenly drops to zero once this threshold is exceeded. The value of the threshold depends on the ratio of redundancy and on the number of the distribution trees. Using the model and simulations we show that correlated and inhomogeneous losses slightly worsen the overlay's performance. We apply the model to study the effects of dynamic node behavior and compare its results to simulations.

Streaming Performance in Multiple-Tree-Based Overlays

“…The model does not take into account the correlations between packet losses in the Internet. Nevertheless, it can be extended to heterogeneous and correlated losses by following the procedure presented in [13] for the minimum breadth trees. Losses occurring in bursts on the output links of the nodes influence the performance of the overlay if several packets of the same block are distributed over the same tree, that is, if n > t. Bursty losses in the backbone influence the performance if packets of different distribution trees traverse the same bottleneck.…”

“…Losses occurring in bursts on the output links of the nodes influence the performance of the overlay if several packets of the same block are distributed over the same tree, that is, if n > t. Bursty losses in the backbone influence the performance if packets of different distribution trees traverse the same bottleneck. The analysis in [13] showed that loss correlations on the input links and heterogeneous losses slightly decrease the performance of the overlay.…”

“…Previously, we proposed mathematical models to describe the behavior of CoopNet like architectures in [12][13][14]. Our results showed that the two architectures proposed in the literature, and used as a basis in recent works (e.g., [2,15]) are straightforward but not optimal.…”

“…This equation is the same as (2) in [13], and thus the analysis shown there can be applied to describe the evolution of π f (i). For brevity, we only state the main results regarding π f (i), for a detailed explanation see [13].…”

“…For brevity, we only state the main results regarding π f (i), for a detailed explanation see [13]. For every (n, k) there is a loss probability p max below which the packet possession probability π f (∞) > 0 and above which π f (∞) = 0.…”