Title: Implicit layer coordination in arbitrary non-cumulative layered multicasting

Authors: Akmal A. Younis, Gamal A. Ebrahim

Addresses: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Miami, P.O. Box 24-8294, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA. ' Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Miami, P.O. Box 24-8294, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA

Abstract: Non-cumulative layered streaming in synchronous collaboration environments has received little attention due to overhead associated with uncoordinated receivers| subscriptions to different layers of the multicast stream. This paper presents a new layer coordination algorithm for such streams, termed Implicit Layer Coordination Algorithm (ILCA). ILCA computes, prior to multicasting, a representative layer combination for each attainable throughput that maximises the overlapping among the receivers. Consequently, ILCA can be deployed in the Internet for arbitrary non-cumulative layered multicasting. ILCA employs two search strategies (genetic and heuristic) to compute representative layer combinations. Complexity analysis shows the computational feasibility of ILCA. Simulation results demonstrate that ILCA can increase the overlapping among receivers| subscriptions and decrease the average number of joinings and leavings that receivers perform to change their rates. As a result, ILCA increases the average receiver throughput by 14-57%.

Keywords: multimedia streaming; synchronous collaboration; non-cumulative layered multicasting; TCP-friendly; traffic management; multicast streams; internet; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHPCN.2008.025558

International Journal of High Performance Computing and Networking, 2008 Vol.5 No.5/6, pp.388 - 401

Published online: 22 May 2009 *

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