Rebeen R. Hama Amin

84 Pages·2016·1.62 MB·English

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Theses
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Rebeen R. Hama Amin
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Hama Amin, Rebeen R., "Video QoS/QoE over IEEE802.11n/ac: A Contemporary Survey" (2016). Thesis.
Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from
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Video QoS/QoE over IEEE802.11n/ac: A Contemporary Survey

By

Rebeen R. Hama Amin

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
Degree of Master of Science in
Networking and System Administration

Rochester Institute of Technology

B. Thomas Golisano College

of

Computing and Information Sciences

Department of Information Sciences and Technologies

May 2016

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Rochester Institute of Technology
B. Thomas Golisano College
of
Computing and Information Sciences

Master of Science in Networking and System Administration

~ Thesis Approval Form ~

Student Name: Rebeen R. Hama Amin

Thesis Title: Video QoS/QoE over IEEE802.11n/ac: A Contemporary Survey

Thesis Area(s): Networking

~ MS Thesis Committee ~

Name Signature Date

Prof. Bruce Hartpence
Chair

Prof. Charles Border
Committee Member

Prof. Sylvia Perez-Hardy
Committee Member

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DEDICATION
I dedicate this thesis to my parents (Kazhal and Rebwar) for their support and encouragement. To professor
(Bruce Hartpence) for his support and guidance through the entire process. To my friends at RIT, especially
(Swagata D. Chaudhury) for her help and support.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the Fulbright program for accepting me as a
Fulbrighter and giving me this scholarship to finish my master degree at R.I.T. I also want to thank R.I.T
for accepting me as a graduate student and realize my dream. Finally, I would like to highly appreciate
professors in my thesis committee (Prof. Bruce Hartpence, Prof. Charlies Border and Prof. Sylvia Perez-
Hardy).

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ABSTRACT
Video QoS/QoE over IEEE802.11n/ac: A Contemporary Survey
By
Rebeen R. Hama Amin

The demand for video applications over wireless networks has tremendously increased, and IEEE 802.11
standards have provided higher support for video transmission. However, providing Quality of Service
(QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) for video over WLAN is still a challenge due to the error sensitivity
of compressed video and dynamic channels. This thesis presents a contemporary survey study on video
QoS/QoE over WLAN issues and solutions. The objective of the study is to provide an overview of the
issues by conducting a background study on the video codecs and their features and characteristics,
followed by studying QoS and QoE support in IEEE 802.11 standards. Since IEEE 802.11n is the current
standard that is mostly deployed worldwide and IEEE 802.11ac is the upcoming standard, this survey study
aims to investigate the most recent video QoS/QoE solutions based on these two standards. The solutions
are divided into two broad categories, academic solutions, and vendor solutions. Academic solutions are
mostly based on three main layers, namely Application, Media Access Control (MAC) and Physical (PHY)
which are further divided into two major categories, single-layer solutions, and cross-layer solutions.
Single-layer solutions are those which focus on a single layer to enhance the video transmission
performance over WLAN. Cross-layer solutions involve two or more layers to provide a single QoS
solution for video over WLAN. This thesis has also presented and technically analyzed QoS solutions by
three popular vendors. This thesis concludes that single-layer solutions are not directly related to video
QoS/QoE, and cross-layer solutions are performing better than single-layer solutions, but they are much
more complicated and not easy to be implemented. Most vendors rely on their network infrastructure to
provide QoS for multimedia applications. They have their techniques and mechanisms, but the concept of
providing QoS/QoE for video is almost the same because they are using the same standards and rely on Wi-
Fi Multimedia (WMM) to provide QoS.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………………....1
1.2. Problem Statement…………………………………………………………..…………………2
2. RELATED WORKS…………………………………………………………………………….....3
3. VIDEO OVER WIRELESS OVERVIEW………………………………………………………....4
3.1. Video Codecs.......................................................................................................................…...4
3.1.1. H.263……………….……………………………….….……………………………….5
3.1.2. H.264/AVC………………….………………………...…...…………………………...6
3.1.2.1. Network Abstraction Layer………….…………………....……………………6
3.1.2.2. Video Coding Layer………………................……………….………………...9
3.1.3. H.265/HEVC…………………………………………………….………..…………...12
3.1.3.1. HEVC Characteristics and Features………………………….………..………12
3.1.4. VP8………………………………………..…………………………………………...16
3.1.4.1. VP8 Technical Features……….……………………………………................16
3.2. IEEE 802.11n………………………………………………………………………………...18
3.2.1. PHY……………………………………………..……………….…………………….18
3.2.2. MAC………………………………………………..………………….………………18
3.3. IEEE 802.11ac……………………………………………………………………….……….20
3.3.1. PHY………………………………………..…………………………………………..20
3.3.2. MAC…………………………………………..……………………………………….21
4. QOS/QOE SUPPORT IN IEEE 802.11N/AC……………………………………………………….23
4.1. QoS Overview………………………………………………………………………………..23
4.1.1. Resource Allocation……………………………..………………………………….…23
4.1.1.1. IntServ………………………………………….…………………………..…23
4.1.1.2. DifServ………………………………………………….………………….…24
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4.1.2. Service differentiation…………………………..………………………………….….24
4.1.3. Admission Control……………………………...……………………………...............24
4.1.4. Congestion Control…………………………………..………………………………...24
4.1.5. Scheduling………………………………………………..…………………................25
4.1.6. Traffic Shaping and Engineering……………………………..…………………….….25
4.2. QoS support in IEEE 802.11n/ac……………………………………………………….…….25
4.2.1. MAC layer QoS features………………………..……………………………...............25
4.2.1.1. Differentiated Services……………………….…………………………….…26
4.2.1.1.1. DCF………………………………….…………………………..…26
4.2.1.1.2. PCF………………………………………..……………………..…27
4.2.1.2. Priority Queuing………………………………………………….…..27
4.2.1.3. Scheduling…………………………………………………................28
4.2.1.4. Traffic Shaping…………………………………………………….…28
4.3. QoE Overview………………………………………………………………………………..28
4.3.1. QoE Measurement………………………………………..…………………................29
4.3.1.1. Subjective Assessment………………………………….………………….…29
4.3.1.2. Objective Assessment…………………………………………..……………..29
4.3.1.3. Hybrid Assessment………………………………………………….………...29
4.3.2 QoE Metrics……………………………………………………………………...….….29
4.3.2.1. Direct Metrics…………………………….………………………………...…30
4.3.2.2. Indirect Metrics………………………………….…………………................31
5. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS………………………………………………………………………….32
5.1. Academic Solutions…………………………………………………………………………..32
5.1.1. Single-Layer Solutions………..……………………………………………………….32
5.1.1.1. Application Layer Solutions………….……………………………………….32
5.1.1.2. MAC Layer Solutions………………………..………………………………..37
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5.1.1.3. PHY Layer Solutions…………………………………….……………………40
5.1.2. Cross-Layer Solutions………………..………………………………………………..42
5.1.2.1. Application-PHY Solutions……………………….…………………………..42
5.1.2.2. Application-MAC Solutions……………………………..……………………44
5.1.2.3. MAC-PHY Solutions……………….………………………………………...47
5.1.2.4. Application-MAC-PHY Solutions……………….……………………….......48
5.2. Vendor Solutions……………………………………………………………………………..50
5.2.1. Aruba Infrastructure………………………..………………………………………….54
5.2.2. Cisco Infrastructure…………………………….……………….……………………..56
5.2.3. Ruckus Infrastructure………………………………..……………………………...…58
6. FINDINGS AND OPEN RESEARCH ISSUES………………………………………………........60
7. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORKS…………………………………………………………63
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………….65

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1. A comparison between 802.11n and 802.11ac………………………………………………….22
Table 4.1. MOS……………………………………………………………………………………………30
Table 4.2. PSNR to MOS…………………………………………………………………………………..31

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