Enhanced failover mechanisms for tree-based peer-to-peer streaming

Peer-to-peer streaming has emerged as prominent networking approach for the delivery of real-time video content. The dynamic nature of the peers which is characterized by unpredictable arrivals or departures affects connectivity, stability and consequently the perceived video quality. This phenomenon is more evident in tree-based streaming. This work proposes enhanced failover mechanisms for peer-to-peer streaming over multiple multicast trees. Contrary to existing approaches, the proposed mechanisms take into account the order of arrival of peers and the diversity among different trees in order to provide backup links for the retrieval of missing packets during temporary disconnections. The proposed approaches have been evaluated through simulations both in terms of connectivity and video quality.