Video distribution over a campus network using MPEG-DASH

Abstract

Internet traffic is growing fast and video data is becoming the dominant traffic that defines the nature of the network. Internet traffic is exposed to delay, stall, congestion and other related problems which lead to the degradation of the quality of video viewing experience. The introduction of the Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) standard from the Moving Picture Expert Group (MPEG) [1] is aimed at addressing these issues. This dissertation studies the distribution of video over a campus network using the MPEG-DASH streaming standard. The study has been carried out using literature review, laboratory experiments and real-world experiments using wired and WiFi media on the University of Malta campus network. Through these experiments it is shown that using the MPEG-DASH streaming standard, video can be played in poor bandwidth network conditions and in fast throughput changing situations with considerable reduction in stall compared to the current existing technology, which is progressive download. Hence improvements in Quality of Experience (QoE) of video is achieved. All the lab experiments and real-world experiment results, provide a picture of the possible improvements, but also problems, when using MPEG-DASH. This helps to strengthen confidence in the deployment of MPEG-DASH and also in its analysis to mitigate its shortcomings, for further improvements in the QoE of the streamed video. Based on the experiments carried out in this dissertation and also based on the related work reported in the literature, it can be concluded that MPEG-DASH increases the QoE when viewing video over a campus network.