Scalable video multicast using flexible multicast service over IEEE 802.11 WLAN

Abstract

In video multicast, it is a challenging task to deliver video at a satisfactory level to multiple receivers with different channel quality and different battery capacities. In order to resolve such receiver heterogeneity, we propose a video multicast system that integrates scalable video coding (SVC) and flexible multicast service (FMS). The system is designed to transmit the base layer (BL) and the enhancement layer (EL) of an SVC-encoded video at different delivery traffic indication maps (DTIMs) such that each receiver can freely select either energy-intensive high quality video or energy-saving baseline quality video. Moreover, we enhance reliability by adding a functionality of intra-flow network coding (NC). As a measure of user satisfaction, we develop a multi-attribute utility model, and then, based on the utility model, we develop a Stakelberg game-based optimization framework to determine modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and the number of NC-generated packets for each layer. Through simulations, we confirm that the proposed scheme achieves higher user satisfaction by exhibiting performance gain of 16.4% to 47% over the legacy 802.11 scheme.