High-resolution video streaming in mesh-networked homes

Wireless mesh systems offer several advantages for emerging high-bandwidth networks because of their cooperative routing capabilities. In this study, we consider the potential benefits of using wireless meshes within residential networks for applications that require high bandwidth and low latency. In particular, we consider high-bitrate video transmission inside a mesh-networked home. To quantify our findings, we present experimental results obtained from a high-resolution video streaming application. Our experiments involve single-hop, multi-hop, single-path and multi-path transmission methods, and two types of video coding techniques, namely single description coding and multiple description coding. In the light of our results, we discuss the pros and cons of each streaming method, and motivate a set of research problems.