Introduction

Abstract

Multimedia networking applications and, in particular, the transport of compressed video are expected to contribute significantly to the traffic in the future Internet and wireless networks. For transport over networks, video is typically encoded (i.e., compressed) to reduce the bandwidth requirements. Even compressed video, however, requires large bandwidths of the order of hundred kbps or Mbps. In addition, compressed video streams typically exhibit highly variable bit rates (VBR) as well as long range dependence (LRD) properties. This, in conjunction with the stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements (loss and delay) of video traffic, makes the transport of video traffic over communication networks a challenging problem. As a consequence, in the last decade the networking research community has witnessed an explosion in research on all aspects of video transport. The characteristics of video traffic, video traffic modeling, as well as protocols and mechanisms for the efficient transport of video streams, have received a great deal of interest among networking researchers and network operators and a plethora of video transport schemes have been developed.