On the stability of end-point-based multimedia streaming

Abstract

In this paper we propose an analytical model of a resilient, tree-based end-node multicast streaming architecture that employs path diversity and forward error correction for improved resilience to node churns and packet losses. Using the model and via simulations we study the performance of this architecture in the presence of packet losses and dynamic node behavior. We show that the overlay can distribute data to nodes arbitrarily far away from the root of the trees as long as the loss probability is lower than a certain threshold, but the probability of packet reception suddenly drops to zero once this threshold is exceeded, The value of the threshold depends on the ratio of redundancy and on the number of the distribution trees. Using the model and simulations we show that correlated and inhomogeneous losses slightly worsen the overlay's performance, We apply the model to study the effects of dynamic node behavior and compare its results to simulations. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2006.