Video multicasting over a campus network

Abstract

Video traffic has become very important on the Internet. Cisco estimates that video traffic constituted 57% of all Internet traffic in 2012 and that this will increase to 69% by 2017 [ 1]. This is being driven by the increasing popularity of video sites such as YouTube [2] and Vimeo [3] and the high traffic generated by streaming video services and applications. There are an increasing number of video sources on a Campus Network as well, such as eLearning video streaming, videoconferencing, streaming TV stations, and the normal access to Internet sites some of which have been listed above. The users on a campus network access videos over desktop PCs, Laptops, Tablets and Smartphones, all of which have different screen resolutions. It is typical for good quality video to be available at a resolution of 1920x1080p for viewing on a desktop PC, 1280x720p for viewing on mobile computers, and 854x480p for viewing on Smartphones. The users access the video over computer connections with very different network parameters such as bandwidth and packet loss. In this dissertation we study how good quality video can be transmitted to multiple users on the heterogeneous campus network described above. A literature review identified Simulcasting, A VC Transcasting and SVC Transcasting as three potentially efficient techniques to multicast video on a campus network. The three schemes were studied from a theoretical point of view to compare their bandwidth and storage requirements, processing load requirements, and streaming and transcoding delay. SVC Transcasting was identified as the most advantageous solution. A three-router-layer campus network was simulated using GNS3, and used to verify that both A VC and SVC Transcasting can be implemented effectively and efficiently. The remaining challenges to implement such a network are also discussed.