IP multicast video with smart network caches

Abstract

Digital video delivery over an inter-network presents interesting challenges and possi­bilities in today's network environment. The challenges involve dealing with the issues of scalability, data throughput, and reliability in a multi-point distribution environ­ment. At the same time, there are the possibilities for more interaction and cooper­ative sharing of contents amongst hosts on the network. IP multicast addresses the bandwidth scalability issue by providing an efficient point-to-multiple-point delivery mechanism that scales with increasing number of hosts. With the aid of distributed smart network caches, scalable reliability and cooperative sharing of contents are achieved as well. This thesis presents the design and implementation of an IP-based video delivery system that incorporates both IP multicasting mechanisms and distributed smart network caches. The system provides interactive, on-demand service of video contents over an IP network. It is capable of delivering multiple video streams to multiple destinations simultaneously. The receivers in this system can themselves act as video sources to other receivers by redistributing cached video content from their network caches. The performance of this system is evaluated and discussed.