Improving the Performance of Online Bitrate Adaptation with Multi-Step Prediction Over Cellular Networks

Abstract

Video streaming over mobile is flourishing, and most commercial players use adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming to deliver video in varying network conditions. Using network capacity and buffer occupancy as system states, ABR algorithms adjust bitrate based on the instantaneous system states, which is able to adapt to network changes in real-time and ensure high quality of experience (QoE). However, they are incapable of providing good QoE over mobile. Due to the high dynamic characteristics of cellular network, the system states change rapidly over time. The instantaneous state-based adaptation can induce significant video quality fluctuation which greatly degrades QoE. In this paper, we propose an online ABR algorithm called MSPC to provide good QoE in cellular network. To balance the conflict between rapid adaptation and smooth bitrate, MSPC utilizes the multi-step prediction of future system states to select bitrates instead of the instantaneous current states. At the same time, it controls the buffer occupancy to eliminate the impact of prediction error on performance. We implement MSPC on a reference video player with performance evaluated based on realistic cellular traces. Experimental results show that MSPC reduces the bitrate change of existing online algorithms by 62.4 percent on average while maintaining high bitrates and achieving zero rebuffering over 97.83 percent of all tested sessions.