Title : UHD Transcoder Migration

Project Lead : Maciej Glowiak From : PSNC (None)

Dates : from 2014-03-14 16:49:23 to 2015-02-02 16:39:54

Description :

Motivation and objectives :
Seamless transcoder migration when streaming UHD content using software defined networking (SDN) Our submission proposal to the call for participation of VISIONAIR will use the ultra-high definition displays, JPEG 2000 encoding/decoding abilities and network architecture of VISIONAIR to investigate the ability to seamlessly migrate transcoding resources while in use by an ultra-high definition content stream. Expected objectives and deliverables of this project include: 1. Improved streaming capability by using hardware based JPEG 2000 encoding/decoding. 2. 4K media streaming with transcode down to HD in real-time. 3. Proof of concept for live migration scenarios. 4. Testbed demonstration. 5. New publications

Teams :
The Network Convergence Laboratory (NCL) at University of Essex specialises research concerning convergence at the network, service and device levels. The NCL has developed a number of analytical models and simulation platforms to evaluate traffic engineering principles for services and applications across heterogeneous fixed (electrical and optical), mobile and converged fixed-mobile networking architectures. The NCL is also active in developing future Internet architectures based on information-centric networking concepts and socially-aware network algorithm design. From a practical perspective, the NCL maintains an extremely well equipped research network test bed that consists of electrical and optical core networking technologies within the lab and broadband wireless and optical access networking technologies across the University campus (Smart Campus) and surrounding areas. On top of the heterogeneous networking technologies is a rich set of (pervasive) service engineering middleware and toolkits which facilitate NCLs research on QoS-enabled service creation, composition and convergence. NCL has an affiliated laboratory called Networked Media Laboratory (NML), which focuses on multimedia aspect of network applications.

Dates :
starting date : 11 January, 2015
ending date : 22 January, 2015

Facilities descriptions :
http://visionair-browser.g-scop.grenoble-inp.fr/visionair/Browser/Catalogs/PSNC.PL.html

Recordings & Results :
Seamless transcoder migration when streaming UHD content using OpenFlow

Conclusions :
During the visit, the UHD streaming system was built and configured to allow 4K content to be streamed from a server and transcoder connected to one switch, then from the transcoder to a client machine on a second switch. The client machine was connected to a 4K display to demonstrate how the system can migrate the transcoder to the second switch, with minimal interruption in the live video stream. The transcoder in the system was set to convert the media to a slightly different variant of 4K than the original, this was mainly for proof of concept and could have been converted to many different output formats as well as performing application layer multicasting. It is important to note that the two switches were OpenFlow enabled switches, which is essential for the migration system to work effectively. Using OpenFlow enables the migration to occur without significant loss of picture quality for the client, the migration was also demonstrated without the aid of OpenFlow for comparison. The system was also tested using WAN emulation between the two switches to test the systems performance when round trip delay between client and server was 125ms and 250ms. The migration system worked as intended at both values with the only a small increase in dropped/delayed packets during the migration process, which I suspect to be caused by the machine adding the delay not being able to buffer and forward the packets adequately during the period in which the 4K stream is duplicated. Packet captures were collected during the migration process which will be used within a publication.




Project Images :