iSWORD: Instrumented Streaming Research and Testbed

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal seeks funding for research in the design, implementation, and instrumentation of new methods for scalable wide-area on-demand reliable digital (SWORD) streaming. The larger goal of the research is to enable new streaming media applications, such as immediate access to a television show whenever a client anywhere would like to view it, by devising new practical cost-effective methods for on-demand real-time streaming of very popular streaming media content. The key aspects of the research to be undertaken are: 1. The development of innovative practical new reliable multicast techniques that optimize client stream sharing to conserve server and network bandwidth, improve bandwidth cost-sharing, and maximize system scalability. 2. The design of delivery techniques that work over the Internet or over satellite/cable networks, or any combination of these network technologies. 3. The development of new metrics and models to determine which popular streams or partial streams should be cached at regional (or proxy) servers in order to minimize delivery cost for the data. 4. The development of new network instrumentation facilities for the streaming media delivery protocols that enable deep understanding of the impact of network events and conditions on the performance of the protocols. 5. The use of the new on-line network instrumentation facilities to develop new streaming methods that optimally adapt to current network conditions. 6. The development of a novel testbed that allows experimentation with alternative new reliable multicast methods as well as alternative algorithms for caching streaming content closer to the clients, uses the new instrumentation facilities, and operates seamlessly and transparently in a live environment with ordinary clients accessing widely used media servers over large-scale networks such as Internet2 or the Internet MBONE.