Effects of source traffic shaping on MPEG video transmission over next generation IP networks

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has defined the integrated services model for supporting real-time services. Guaranteed service is one of these services with firm delay and bandwidth guarantees. Before setting up a guaranteed service flow, traffic parameters of the source have to be specified in terms of token bucket traffic descriptors. The source must conform to these descriptors by shaping its traffic. In this paper, we study the effects of a token bucket traffic shaper at the source on the transmission characteristics of Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) video streams over the guaranteed service. For different types of MPEG video sequences, the effects of the shaper parameters on the transmission performance are studied. We develop an analytical model of the traffic shaper, and also carry out numerical simulation of the transmission performance to verify the analytical model. Our study also provides a technique to analyze stored MPEG video sequences to determine the token bucket traffic descriptors that have to be specified during flow set up