Aggregate bandwidth estimation in stored video distribution systems

Multimedia applications like video on demand, distance learning, internet video broadcast, etc. will play a fundamental role in future broadband networks. A common aspect of such applications is the transmission of video streams that require a sustained relatively high bandwidth with stringent requirements of quality of service. In this paper various original algorithms for evaluating, in a video distribution system, a statistical estimation of aggregate bandwidth needed by a given number of smoothed video streams are proposed and discussed. The variable bit rate traffic generated by each video stream is characterized by its marginal distribution and by conditional probabilities between rates of temporary closed streams. The developed iterative algorithms evaluate an upper and lower bound of needed bandwidth for guaranteeing a given loss probability. The obtained results are compared with simulations and with other results, based on similar assumptions, already presented in the literature. Some considerations on the developed algorithms are made, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.