WebNSM: A Novel Scalable WebRTC Signalling Mechanism for Many-to-Many Video Conferencing

Abstract

There is a strong focus on the use of Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) for many-to-many video conferencing, while the IETF working group has left the signalling issue on the application layer. The main aim of this paper is to create a novel scalable WebRTC signalling mechanism called WebNSM for many-to-many (bi-directional) video conferencing. WebNSM was designed for unlimited users over the mesh topology based on Socket.io (API) mechanism. A real implementation was achieved via LAN and WAN networks, including the evaluation of bandwidth consumption, CPU performance, memory usage, maximum links and RTPs calculation; and Quality of Experience (QoE). In addition, this application supplies video conferencing on different browsers without having to download additional software or user registration. The results present a novel signalling mechanism among various users, devices and networks to open one or multi rooms at the same time using the same server, determine room initiator to keep the session active even if the initiator or another peer leaves, sharing new user with current participants, etc. Moreover, this experiment highlights the limitations of CPU performance, bandwidth consumption and using mesh topology for WebRTC video conferencing.