Analysis and Design of a Proportional-Integral Rate Controller for Streaming Videos

In this paper, we study the problem of rate control for streaming videos by jointly considering encoder rate control and network congestion control. We adopt a control-theoretic approach that models video streaming as a feedback control system. Based on a properly chosen operating point, the model is linearized and a proportional-integral (PI) controller is designed to stabilize the streaming video quality. We derive the guidelines for choosing parameters for the proposed PI rate controller and prove its stability properties. We also show that the PI rate controller is highly robust to fluctuations in the bottleneck link capacity. Our simulation results verify the accuracy of the analysis and demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed control-theoretic approach.