AuthorsD. Kaspar, K. Evensen, P. E. Engelstad, A. F. Hansen, P. Halvorsen and C. Griwodz
EditorsIEEE
TitleEnhancing Video-on-Demand Playout Over Multiple Heterogeneous Access Networks
AfilliationCommunication Systems, Communication Systems
StatusPublished
Publication TypeProceedings, refereed
Year of Publication2010
Conference NameConsumer Communications and Networking Conference (CCNC)
PublisherIEEE
ISBN Number978-1-4244-5176-0
Abstract

Multimedia streaming is increasing in popularity and has become one of the dominating services on the Internet today. Even though user devices are often equipped with multiple network interfaces and in reach of several access networks at the same time, media streams are normally communicated over only one of the available Internet connections. In this paper, we explore the challenges and potential benefits of using multiple access networks simultaneously. Exploiting HTTP's capability of handling requests for specific byte ranges of a file, we present the implementation of a lightweight, application-layer, on-demand streaming service that requires no changes to existing servers and infrastructure. Based on real-world experiments with a multihomed host, we investigate the potential performance gains of video-on-demand playout. We achieve a bandwidth aggregation efficiency of 90% when downloading over 3 heterogeneous access networks in parallel. In addition, we analyze the effect of file segmentation on the buffer requirements and the startup latency.

Citation KeySimula.ND.379