Transmission of real-time multi-layered MPEG-4 video over ATM/ABR service

The transmission of real-time MPEG-4 video presents network designers with various challenges primarily because of the lack of advance knowledge of its real-time traffic characteristics and in the face of stringent QoS requirements. In order to carry out real-time MPEG-4 video, we propose a novel source architecture that combines traffic shaping, rate shaping, early VOP dropping, and utilizing the feedback information as conveyed by the network through the B-RM cells of the ABR service. The proposed scheme is evaluated using an ATM/ABR network simulator and a real video trace encoded into two layers according to the MPEG-4 standard. The simulation results presented in this paper demonstrate that the proposed architecture is capable of protecting the basic layer and satisfying the delay bound as specified by the application. Furthermore, the proposed scheme is capable of protecting the video quality from any sudden drops in the network bandwidth, yet still providing a graceful degradation if the congestion condition persists