Optimizing Transmission in Multi-Flow Streaming Overlay Networks

Aiming at improving the performance of relay transmission in multi-flow streaming overlay networks, a performance evaluation model to optimize the global weighted average latency was proposed. This model supports multiple senders and multiple receivers. A distributed heuristic allocation algorithm was proposed to optimize the transmission performance. In this algorithm, the bottleneck bandwidth shared by multiple flows is allocated based on the path weighted average latency which is computed between any pair of nodes in the network. Source node uses a two stages feedback pattern to allocate the outgoing flow to multiple available paths. Simulation results show that there is linear dependence between the weighted average latency and the data slip hit ratio which is a metric of streaming network performance, the heuristic allocation algorithm can effectively lower the network overall transmission latency and can effectively adjust the traffic allocation. It gets 4%-17% lower in the network overall weighted average latency comparing with that of the pattern of average allocation shared bottle bandwidth.