EPIQ: A new Active Queue Management paradigm for Packet video
In this paper, we introduce a new Active Queue Management (AQM) paradigm and a corresponding congestion control mechanism for a novel video-streaming framework. We call the proposed framework Erasable Packets within Internet Queues (EPIQ). EPIQ exhibits best-effort complexity within the network, similar to the networking complexity of HTTP-based Adaptive Streaming (HAS); yet EPIQ can provide optimal quality-of-experience performance similar to the performance of high-complexity multi-queue solutions. EPIQ exploits the inherent multi-priority nature of video to deliver optimal quality-of-experience without requiring any additional overhead in terms of redundant packets or network resources such as multiple queues and without the need to maintain state information about flows. The novelty of EPIQ is rooted in its packetization. Each EPIQ packet consists of multiple segments, and where each segment carries different priority video content. Under congestion, a network router can simply partially erase only small portions of the EPIQ packets instead of dropping complete packets. We show through an analytical model and extensive simulations that this new paradigm in video streaming provides significant improvements over HAS solutions in terms of quality-of-experience metrics. These significant improvements are achieved while maintaining fairness, stability, and low-complexity within the network.