Analysis of IoT mechanisms for media streaming

Abstract

One critical component of many Internet of Things (IoT) applications that rely on audio, speech and video for decision making is Real Time Communication (RTC). One known problem of this situation, however, is the fact that RTC imposes computational and networking complexities that are not always compatible with the limitations of the simple embedded IoT devices used for sensing and actuation. Moreover, this problem is further aggravated when using traditional RTC based Real Time Protocol (RTP) mechanisms that are not typically intended for use in Low Power Lossy Networks (LLNs). In this paper we explore well-known IoT session protocols, like the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) and the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport Sensor Network Protocol (MQTT-SN), in order to accomplish efficient media transport over LLNs. Specifically, we analyze, model and compare CoAP and MQTT-SN against traditional RTP to define and specify a solution that provides efficient RTC and limits the effects of the computational and networking restrictions associated to embedded IoT devices.