Master ’ s Thesis Title Design , Implementation , and Evaluation of Active Video - Quality Adjustment Method for Heterogeneous Video Multicast

By introducing video-quality adaptation mechanisms into intermediate network equipment using active network technologies, we can provide users with video distribution services that take into account client-to-client heterogeneity in terms of available bandwidth, performance of client systems, and user preferences for video quality. In this thesis, we design and implement an active video-quality adjustment node on a network processor-based equipment. In the design, we consider the architecture of an active video quality adjustment node within the framework of an active network technology. We first consider the functional design of the active video-quality adjustment node. Then, four functional layers of the active node, i.e., an Active Application layer, an Execution Environment layer, a NodeOS layer, and a Router layer, are assigned to processors on the node, i.e., microengines, a StrongARM processor core, and a Pentium processor. The active video-quality adjustment node can adapt the video rate to the requested level on a packet-by-packet basis. The target rate is specified in an ANEP header of a video packet. We conduct experiments and verified the practicality of the video-quality adjustment within a network. It is shown that the active video-quality adjustment node can adapt the video rate to the dynamically changing requested level on a packet-by-packet basis. Furthermore, the active video-quality adjustment node can simultaneously generate video streams of different quality levels from the same video stream.