Analysis of aggregated HTTP-based video traffic

Abstract

Increase of hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-based video popularity causes that broadband and Internet service providers� links transmit mainly multimedia content. Network planning, traffic engineering or congestion control requires understanding of the statistical properties of network traffic; therefore, it is desirable to investigate the characteristic of traffic traces generated, among others, by systems which employ adaptive bit- rate streaming. In our work, we investigate traffic originating from 120 client-server pairs, situated in an emulated laboratory environment, and multiplexed onto a single network link. We show that the structure of the traffic is distinct from the structure generated by first and second generation of HTTP video systems, and furthermore, not similar to the structure of general Internet traffic. The obtained traffic exhibits negative correlations, anti-persistence, and its distribution function is skewed to the right. Furthermore, we show that the traffic generated by clients employing the same or similar play-out strategies is positively correlated and synchronised (clustered), whereas traffic originated from different play-out strategies shows negative or no correlations.