Multi-stream frame rate guarantee using cross-layer synergy

Software Defined Networking (SDN) has provided configurable access to remote network layer components from application hosts during application run-time. We have successfully enabled SDN switches to reduce network resource consumption and improve streaming latency in multi-party 3D tele-immersive (3DTI) applications. Instead of forwarding the same streams to multiple participants from the application host, local network switches replicate network packets towards multiple forwarding paths. However, due to the variable length of application frames generated from the 3DTI application, maintaining constant packet rates at the network switches cannot guarantee required application frame rates towards different forwarding paths. In this poster, we investigate the problem of guaranteeing application frame rates from the network layer switches. We formulate the problem and sketch a scalable solution using OpenFlow, which is a standard protocol developed for SDN.