Measurement of Cloud-based Game Streaming Systems Competing with DASH Flows

Cloud-based game streaming requires low-latency and high-throughput networking to support real-time interactivity and high-quality visuals critical to such platforms. However, the capacity of local networks to meet these demands is challenged by the simultaneous presence of other bandwidth-intensive applications, such as Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) for video content. While some aspects of network congestion for cloud-based game streaming have been studied, missing are comparative performance and congestion responses for cloud-based game streams competing with video flows - a common scenario for users on a home Local Area Network (LAN). This paper presents results from experiments that measure how two commercial cloud-based game streaming systems - NVIDIA GeForce Now and Amazon Luna - respond to DASH flows on a congested network link. Analysis of bitrates, frame rates and round-trip times for the game streaming flows and analysis of media throughput and interrupts for the DASH flows show markedly different responses to the arrival and departure of competing DASH traffic.