Adaptive content-and-deadline aware chunk scheduling in mesh-based P2P video streaming

In mesh-based Peer-to-Peer (P2P) live video streaming systems packet scheduling is an important factor in overall video playback quality. In mesh based P2P video streaming systems, each video sequence is divided into chunks, which are then distributed by multiple suppliers to the receivers. The suppliers need to be coordinated by the receiver through specifying a transmission schedule for each of them. Many previous studies on scheduling of P2P streaming tend to mainly focus on networking issues which strongly depend on a particular P2P architecture such as tree or mesh. These algorithms suffer from some design issues: 1) they are too complex to deploy, 2) they do not take video characteristics into account and 3) they do not have sender-side transmission policy. To address all three of these problems, we propose a new chunk scheduling scheme which consists of two parts: i) receiver-side scheduler and ii) sender-side transmission order scheme. The proposed receiver-side scheduler considers the contribution level of each video frame as well as the frame’s urgency in order to define a priority for each video frame. It attempts to request frames with highest priority from peers which can deliver them in a shorter time. We also design a new chunk transmission order scheme that decides which requested chunk will be sent out first based on its importance to the requesting neighbor. Our simulation results show that the proposed scheduling scheme improves the overall quality of the perceived video in mesh-based P2P video streaming architectures substantially.     

支持高视频播放率的层次化P2P流媒体系统

目前的P2P流媒体系统具有自组织、容错性和匿名性等优点,但是在健壮性和对高视频播放率的有效支持方面还存在一些问题。本文提出了一种层次化P2P流媒体系统(HPSS)来支持高视频播放率,节点根据带宽和延迟分组聚类,在系统中形成多级层次结构,从视频源服务器来取得视频数据。通过积极地平衡聚类中的上传能力,既能够有效地解决P2P系统中支持高视频播放率的问题,提供接近一个P2P系统能够达到的最大流媒体速率,同时保证系统具有良好的健壮性,在聚类的头节点失效的情况下,不降低整个系统的流媒体速率。最后通过仿真实验证明了HPSS的上述优点。     

LayerP2P: Using Layered Video Chunks in P2P Live Streaming

Although there are several successful commercial deployments of live P2P streaming systems, the current designs; lack incentives for users to contribute bandwidth resources; lack adaptation to aggregate bandwidth availability; and exhibit poor video quality when bandwidth availability falls below bandwidth supply. In this paper, we propose, prototype, deploy, and validate LayerP2P, a P2P live streaming system that addresses all three of these problems. LayerP2P combines layered video, mesh P2P distribution, and a tit-for-tat-like algorithm, in a manner such that a peer contributing more upload bandwidth receives more layers and consequently better video quality. We implement LayerP2P (including seeds, clients, trackers, and layered codecs), deploy the prototype in PlanetLab, and perform extensive experiments. We also examine a wide range of scenarios using trace-driven simulations. The results show that LayerP2P has high efficiency, provides differentiated service, adapts to bandwidth deficient scenarios, and provides protection against free-riders.     

An efficient scheduling algorithm for scalable video streaming over P2P networks

During recent years, the Internet has witnessed rapid advancement in peer-to-peer (P2P) media streaming. In these applications, an important issue has been the block scheduling problem, which deals with how each node requests the media data blocks from its neighbors. In most streaming systems, peers are likely to have heterogeneous upload/download bandwidths, leading to the fact that different peers probably perceive different streaming quality. Layered (or scalable) streaming in P2P networks has recently been proposed to address the heterogeneity of the network environment. In this paper, we propose a novel block scheduling scheme that is aimed to address the P2P layered video streaming. We define a soft priority function for each block to be requested by a node in accordance with the block’s significance for video playback. The priority function is unique in that it strikes good balance between different factors, which makes the priority of a block well represent the relative importance of the block over a wide variation of block size between different layers. The block scheduling problem is then transformed to an optimization problem that maximizes the priority sum of the delivered video blocks. We develop both centralized and distributed scheduling algorithms for the problem. Simulation of two popular scalability types has been conducted to evaluate the performance of the algorithms. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is effective in terms of bandwidth utilization and video quality.     

Modeling and optimization of survivable P2P multicasting

Various solutions based on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) multicasting have been gaining much popularity in recent years, since P2P multicasting can effectively support live streaming of various content. In this work we assume that the P2P multicasting is used to distribute content with high reliability requirements, e.g., weather warnings, security updates, financial data, security warnings, etc. The main idea to provide protection of the system against network failures is to establish several (at least two) disjoint multicasting trees. Our discussion in this paper centers on the problem how additional survivability constraints to provide failure-disjoint trees impact the operation of P2P multicasting systems. As the performance metrics we propose to use: streaming cost, maximum delay and throughput. The possible failure scenario we take into account is a single failure of one of the following network elements: streaming server, overlay link, uploading node and ISP link. We examine the topic of survivable P2P multicasting applying offline optimization methods and simulations. In the former case we formulate Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) models and use the CPLEX solver to obtain optimal results. For the streaming cost objective we compare two MIP formulations in terms of the complexity and execution time. Results show that our formulation provides much better performance compared to the classical P2P multicasting formulation proposed in the literature. Moreover, in the case of the streaming cost problem we propose a new evolutionary algorithm that yields results for larger networks than the CPLEX solver. The simulations are run to emulate a distributed network environment, in which each node makes its own decisions. Results obtained using both research methods confirm that the survivability of P2P multicasting can be achieved with relatively low additional system overhead for all three considered performance metrics: streaming cost, maximum delay and system throughput.     

User density sensitive P2P streaming in wireless mesh networks

Link rate allocation is very important for supporting high video playback rate in Peer-to-Peer video streaming. Although many studies can be found on resource allocation in P2P streaming in wired networks, very few studies have studied the problem in wireless networks, especially in Wireless multi-hop Mesh Networks (WMNs), which is still challenging. To maximize the users’ satisfaction of P2P streaming in WMNs, this paper focuses on link rate allocation problem and proposes a fully distributed algorithm to efficiently utilize the upload and download bandwidth of wireless mesh nodes. We first build an efficient P2P streaming system based on the experimental results from real deployment of our wireless mesh testbed. Then we design an efficient distributed algorithm based on the solution to a linear optimization model, which optimizes towards a user-density-related objective to decide the best streaming rates among peers. Our scheme is resilient to network dynamics that is characteristic in wireless multi-hop peer-to-peer networks. The simulation experiments demonstrate the significant performance enhancement by using the proposed rate allocation algorithm in WMNs.     

一种分层P2 P流媒体系统重叠网的构建策略

基于Peer-to-Peer(P2P)技术的流媒体应用具有部署效率高及可扩展性好等突出优势。而采用分层视频编码技术的P2P流媒体系统把原视频流分解为多个视频层数据进行分发,让节点能够选择与自己带宽资源相匹配的视频质量,使其很好地适应节点的异构性。但是各分层视频数据传输的路径存在较大差异,使重叠网构建策略面临更大的挑战。因此定义了基于分层视频编码技术环境下的P2P流媒体重叠网络构建问题,并证明该问题是一个NP难问题。提出了一种构建重叠网的集中启发式算法,同时还提出了一种基于视频组(Streaming Group)的分布式重叠网络构建策略。通过大规模网络仿真实验验证了基于该分布式重叠网构建策略的分层流媒体系统具备低服务器带宽占用、高数据获取率等优点。     

Fighting pollution attacks in P2P streaming

In recent years, the demand for multimedia streaming over the Internet is soaring. Due to the lack of a centralized point of administration, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) streaming systems are vulnerable to pollution attacks, in which video segments might be altered by any peer before being shared. Among existing proposals, reputation-based defense mechanisms are the most effective and practical solutions. We performed a measurement study on the effectiveness of this class of solutions. We implemented a framework that allows us to simulate different variations of the reputation rating systems, from the centralized global approaches to the decentralized local approaches, under different parameter settings and pollution models. One key finding is that a centralized reputation system is only effective in static network and in defending against light pollution attacks. In general, a fully distributed reputation system is more suitable for the “real-time” P2P streaming system, since it is better in handling network dynamics and fast in detecting the polluters. Based on this key finding, we propose DRank, a fully distributed rank-based reputation system. Experimental results show that this technique is more flexible and robust in fighting pollution attacks.     

An efficient playout smoothing mechanism for layered streaming in P2P networks

Layered video streaming in peer-to-peer (P2P) networks has drawn great interest, since it can not only accommodate large numbers of users, but also handle peer heterogeneity. However, there’s still a lack of comprehensive studies on chunk scheduling for the smooth playout of layered streams in P2P networks. In these situations, a playout smoothing mechanism can be used to ensure the uniform delivery of the layered stream. This can be achieved by reducing the quality changes that the stream undergoes when adapting to changing network conditions. This paper complements previous efforts in throughput maximization and delay minimization for P2P streaming by considering the consequences of playout smoothing on the scheduling mechanisms for stream layer acquisition. The two main problems to be considered when designing a playout smoothing mechanism for P2P streaming are the fluctuation in available bandwidth between peers and the unreliability of user-contributed resources—particularly peer churn. Since the consideration of these two factors in the selection and scheduling of stream layers is crucial to maintain smooth stream playout, the main objective of our smoothing mechanism becomes the determination of how many layers to request from which peers, and in which order. In this work, we propose a playout smoothing mechanism for layered P2P streaming. The proposed mechanism relies on a novel scheduling algorithm that enables each peer to select appropriate stream layers, along with appropriate peers to provide them. In addition to playout smoothing, the presented mechanism also makes efficient use of network resources and provides high system throughput. An evaluation of the performance of the mechanism demonstrates that the proposed mechanism provides a significant improvement in the received video quality in terms of lowering the number of layer changes and useless chunks while improving bandwidth utilization.     

A survey of peer-to-peer live video streaming schemes – An algorithmic perspective

Live video streaming applications have gained great popularity among users but exert great pressure on video servers and the Internet. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks provide an attractive solution due to their low cost and high scalability. A large number of P2P live video streaming schemes have been proposed and many deployments have appeared on the Internet. These schemes pursue vastly diverse directions, from mimicking IP multicast to BitTorrent-like swarming to distributed hash tables. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive and in-depth survey of P2P live video streaming schemes from an algorithmic perspective. Our purpose is to acquaint future designers with the critical design choices and their impacts on system performance. The primary objective of a P2P live video streaming system is to distribute packets from the video source to peers, and the collective paths through which a packet traverses form a tree. We focus on three aspects of how these trees are formed: determining the supplier–receiver relationships for each packet, handling the departure of the supplier or receiver before their relationship expires, and handling lost packets. We identify critical design choices in each aspect and propose a taxonomy according to these choices. Because the surveyed papers use different performance metrics and the reported results are heavily influenced by their experimental settings, we consider two measures to identify the impact of each design choice: we use a set of “internal” metrics in addition to the commonly used “external” metrics, and we examine performance metrics of schemes that have made the same design choice. For better understanding of how the design choices interact with one another and exposing future designers to the design choices specific to each individual scheme, we also provide systematic summaries for a large number of schemes.     

Adaptive topology formation for peer-to-peer video streaming

In this paper we propose an adaptive P2P video streaming framework to address the challenges due to bandwidth heterogeneity and peer churn on the Internet. This adaptive streaming framework consists of two major components, source rate adaptation and adaptive overlay topology formation, to maximize the video quality and fully utilize the overall peer upload capacity. In the source rate adaptation, the video server adapts the video source rate automatically based on the local measurement of peers’ download rates, so that the P2P network is not overloaded beyond its bandwidth capacity and peers are able to achieve smooth video playback. To combat bandwidth heterogeneity, we propose to construct a desirable link-level homogeneous overlay topology using a Markov chain Monte Carlo method, so that peers achieve an equal per-connection upload/download bandwidth. In this link-level homogeneous network, video flows do not encounter any bottlenecks along the delivery paths, and peers achieve high download rates to ensure smooth video playback. We also design a fully distributed algorithm to implement the dual mechanisms of the adaptive topology formation and the source rate maximization. To evaluate the performance of our streaming framework, we conduct both mathematical analysis and extensive simulations. The simulation results confirm our analysis and show that the proposed distributed algorithm is able to maximize the video playback quality with fast convergence.     

DPVoD:基于P2P的视频点播体系结构

可扩展性和可靠性是视频点播系统大规模应用的关键,提出了一种P2P点播系统结构DPVoD.系统基于应用层组播,用户以订制的缓存为其他节点提供服务,并形成相对独立的共享并发流组播树,组播树之问根据拥有的视频数据的重合程度而建立不同的组邻居关系,以此为基础,采用多种机制来提高系统性能:组协同工作、父亲点选择策略、状态控制协议和失效恢复等.定义并分析了可能对系统性能有严重影响的结尾雪崩问题并提出解决方案.对系统基本性能进行了理论分析.仿真结果表明,在静态和动态环境中,DPVoD系统的并发流占用数和利用率、可靠性等性能均优于类似系统.     

Scalable playback rate control in P2P live streaming systems

Current commercial live video streaming systems are based either on a typical client–server (cloud) or on a peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture. The former architecture is preferred for stability and QoS, provided that the system is not stretched beyond its bandwidth capacity, while the latter is scalable with small bandwidth and management cost. In this paper, we propose a P2P live streaming architecture in which by adapting dynamically the playback rate we guarantee that peers receive the stream even in cases where the total upload bandwidth changes very abruptly. In order to achieve this we develop a scalable mechanism that by probing only a small subset of peers monitors dynamically the total available bandwidth resources and a playback rate control mechanism that dynamically adapts playback rate to the aforementioned resources. We model analytically the relationship between the playback rate and the available bandwidth resources by using difference equations and in this way we are able to apply a control theoretical approach. We also quantify monitoring inaccuracies and dynamic bandwidth changes and we calculate dynamically, as a function of these, the maximum playback rate for which the proposed system able to guarantee the uninterrupted and complete distribution of the stream. Finally, we evaluate the control strategy and the theoretical model in a packet level simulator of a complete P2P live streaming system that we designed in OPNET Modeler. Our evaluation results show the uninterrupted and complete stream delivery (every peer receives more than 99 % of video blocks in every scenario) even in very adverse bandwidth changes.     

A design of IPTV conditional access mechanism based on P2P network

A significant problem in providing IPTV services is its high deployment and maintenance cost. In addition, the capacity of the video servers can quickly become a bottleneck. One solution to alleviate the load on servers is to use peer-to-peer (P2P) technology. In this paper, we propose a conditional access mechanism to protect the copyright in P2P IPTV service. It enables large-scale distribution of copyrighted video using P2P streaming technology. The security and efficiency of IPTV service can be guaranteed in our design.     

Optimizing the Throughput of Data-Driven Peer-to-Peer Streaming

During recent years, the Internet has witnessed a rapid growth in deployment of data-driven (or swarming based) peer-to-peer (P2P) media streaming. In these applications, each node independently selects some other nodes as its neighbors (i.e. gossip-style overlay construction), and exchanges streaming data with the neighbors (i.e. data scheduling). To improve the performance of such protocol, many existing works focus on the gossip-style overlay construction issue. However, few of them concentrate on optimizing the streaming data scheduling to maximize the throughput of a constructed overlay. In this paper, we analytically study the scheduling problem in data-driven streaming system and model it as a classical min-cost network flow problem. We then propose both the global optimal scheduling scheme and distributed heuristic algorithm to optimize the system throughput. Furthermore, we introduce layered video coding into data-driven protocol and extend our algorithm to deal with the end-host heterogeneity. The results of simulation with the real world traces indicate that our distributed algorithm significantly outperforms conventional ad hoc scheduling strategies especially in stringent buffer and bandwidth constraints.     

WuKong: a practical video streaming service based on native BitTorrent and scalable video coding

Many researches on peer-to-peer video streaming have focused on dealing with highly dynamic, high-churn P2P environment. Most of P2P streaming protocols were modified from a P2P file sharing protocol. Inspired by the high performance on peer-to-peer file sharing of BitTorrent, we propose an overlaying streaming mechanism on the native BitTorrent protocol and realize a practical P2P video streaming service, called WuKong. WuKong not only takes advantages of BitTorrent but also combines the video scalability of layered video coding. In this paper, we depict an overlaid streaming mechanism in WuKong and an adaptive layer-downloading process to balance between the video quality and bandwidth utilization on heterogeneous peers. WuKong is carried out by using an open-sourced library of the BitTorrent protocol, coding schemes of the Windows Media Video (WMV), and the Scalable Video Coding (SVC). We measured and compared the service quality of end-users served by WuKong on heterogeneous peers. In addition, we evaluated the effectiveness of WuKong with peers that are randomly joining and leaving the P2P network. The results show that WuKong not only provides high quality P2P video streaming services but also supports different scaling abilities over heterogeneous devices.     

基于P2P网络的大规模视频直播系统

介绍了一种基于P2P(peer-to-peer)网络的大规模视频直播系统Gridmedia.该系统采用Gossip协议构建无结构的应用层覆盖网络,每个节点可以独立地选择自己的伙伴节点.在覆盖网络上,每个节点通过一种推拉结合的流传输策略从邻居节点获取数据.与DONet中的纯拉策略相比,推拉结合策略大幅度减小了终端用户观看视频的延迟,并有效降低了直播系统的控制开销.PlanetLab上的大量实验充分表明了该策略的有效性.Gridmedia的原型系统通过300Kbps的视频码流对2005年春节联欢晚会进行了全球互联网直播.晚会期间,全球范围内有超过500 000人次通过系统观看了直播,最高在线人数达到了15 239人,充分验证了系统的性能.     

Redesigning multi-channel P2P live video systems with View-Upload Decoupling

In current multi-channel P2P live video systems, there are several fundamental performance problems including exceedingly-large channel switching delays, long playback lags, and poor performance for less popular channels. These performance problems primarily stem from two intrinsic characteristics of multi-channel P2P video systems: channel churn and channel-resource imbalance. In this paper, we propose a radically different cross-channel P2P streaming framework, called View-Upload Decoupling (VUD). VUD strictly decouples peer downloading from uploading, bringing stability to multi-channel systems and enabling cross-channel resource sharing. We propose a set of peer assignment and bandwidth allocation algorithms to properly provision bandwidth among channels, and introduce substream-swarming to reduce the bandwidth overhead. We evaluate the performance of VUD via extensive simulations as well with a PlanetLab implementation. Our simulation and PlanetLab results show that VUD is resilient to channel churn, and achieves lower switching delay and better streaming quality. In particular, the streaming quality of small channels is greatly improved.     

Adaptive receiver-driven approach in P2P live streaming networks

Efficient delivery under changing network conditions is a major challenge in the design of live streaming systems. This study analyzes the key considerations and factors influencing live stream quality during system operations, and attempts to improve current P2P (peer-to-peer) live streaming systems by allowing users to enjoy high quality of service under the limitations of network resources. The proposed R-D (rate-distortion) optimized dynamic nodes join algorithm is based on multipath streaming concept and receiver-driven approach. This distributed algorithm enables the system to evaluate the current network status in order to optimize the end-to-end distortion of P2P networks. Experimental results of this study demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Enabling adaptive live streaming in P2P multipath networks

Live Internet streaming can be regarded as a major current multimedia delivery mode. Efficient delivery under changing network conditions is a severe challenge in the design of live streaming systems. This study analyzes the key considerations and factors influencing live stream quality during system operations, and attempts to improve present P2P (peer-to-peer) live streaming systems by allowing users to enjoy high quality of service under the limitations of network resources. The proposed R-D (Rate-Distortion) optimized-dynamic-nodes-join algorithm is based on multipath streaming concept and receiver-driven approach. This distributed algorithm enables the system to evaluate the current network status in order to optimize the end-to-end distortion of P2P networks and stay in the optimal status. Experiment results of this study demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.