Multi-buffer based congestion control for multicast streaming of scalable video

Receiver driven layered multicast streaming provides an attractive solution for transmitting the same video data to multiple receivers while accounting for the heterogeneity in the network resources and device capabilities. Traditionally, congestion control methods in receiver-driven layered multicast have used packet loss as a measure to detect congestion. However, given that wireless networks are characterized by higher packet loss and varying throughputs, packet-loss based congestion control results in inappropriate behavior of those algorithms, and ultimately in sub-optimal usage of the available network resources. This paper presents a novel multicast congestion control algorithm named Layered Virtual Client Buffer (LVCB)-based receiver-driven multicast for multicasting of scalable video. The proposed LVCB technique tracks the media time for each layer currently present in the receiver buffer. The proposed multicast congestion control method reacts to variations in the media time for each LVCB by dynamically joining/leaving multicast groups, in order to adapt the subscription level to the varying network resources. Furthermore, the presented algorithm solves the problem of mutual affection between receivers without exchange of information about subscription levels. The simulation results show the suitability of the proposed method in wireless as well as wired scenarios.