Efficient video delivery over a software-defined network

Abstract

This paper proposes a framework called SDN Streamer for an OpenFlow controller in order to provide QoS support for scalable video streaming over an OpenFlow network. OpenFlow is a protocol that decouples control and forwarding layers of routing. Abstracting control from the forwarding plane lets administrators dynamically adjust network-wide traffic flow and keeps the network agile. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) aims to improve the reliability of multimedia streaming while reducing utilization of server resources. It optimizes video delivery using a Scalable Video Coding (SVC) algorithm that sends layers of different quality via discrete paths. Dynamic rerouting capability is ensured using a Lagrange Relaxation-based Aggregate Cost (LARAC) algorithm. Unlike Dijikstra’s algorithm, the LARAC algorithm does not calculate least “hop-counts” to find the optimal path but calculates the optimal path based on “link statistics.” The SDN Streamer can guarantee seamless video delivery with little or no video artifacts experienced by the end-users. This project makes use of HTML5 for browser display. The SDN server allows everyone to access the media files irrespective of their platform, device or browser. Performance analysis shows there is significant improvement on the video’s overall PSNR under network congestion.