Dynamic Switching between Adaptive FEC Protocols for Reliable Multi-Source Streaming

Multi-source streaming is essential for the design of a large-scale P2P streaming architecture. In this paper, we focus on improving the dependability of multi-source video streaming as an alternative to the more prevalent point-to-point streaming. We have designed and implemented a dynamic FEC (D-FEC) protocol for multi-source video streaming. Our D-FEC protocol has the ability to dynamically switch between 4 different FEC techniques to adapt to varying network conditions. A comprehensive performance evaluation was performed with a full-scale system prototype that gives insights into the behavior of the different adaptive FEC schemes, and shows the feasibility of the concept of switching FEC schemes during a streaming session. Guidelines are given in order to best design a FEC protocol switching strategy taking into account the experienced loss rate, the loss burstiness, and the original video stream rate.