Dependability analysis of transmission techniques for MPEG-2 streams

This paper presents some redundancy-based transmission strategies, suitable for MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) coded multimedia streams. We focus on version 2 of the standard, which is a major compression scheme for distributed VoD (Video on Demand) systems. In such systems, multimedia data transmitted from a server to a client, is to be delivered and rendered within pre-defined time constraints. Typical values range between 100 to 200 ms. Due to these constraints, developing effective redundancy and transmission mechanisms is not a simple task. The effectiveness of the suggested schemes is evaluated, under varying fault rates and network load conditions. The evaluation is done via simulated fault-injection, i.e. by simulating the behavior of the system while faults are injected to its individual components. In particular, we concentrated on the impact-on the quality of the delivered service-of transient faults in the communication infrastructure.