Low-delay peer-to-peer media streaming based on network coding over randomized multicast trees

Abstract

We introduce randomized multicast trees (RMT), an overlay topology designed for low-delay media streaming using network coding. RMTs improve on tree-based overlays in terms of start-up delay. We develop a push-based streaming system that leverages network coding to efficiently distribute the information in the overlay without using buffer maps, followed by a short pull stage to recover from packet losses, and appropriate management procedures to handle ungraceful peers departures.We report performance results of the proposed system, and compare it with an optimized pull system, and with an existing peer-to-peer system employing network coding, showing a significant performance improvement in terms of delay and resiliency to peers’ dynamics and packet losses.