News – Page 55 – ITEC Homepage

IEEE JSAC: Multimedia Economics for Future Networks: Theory, Methods, and Applications

Authors: Wen Ji, Zhu Li, H. Vincent Poor, Christian Timmerer, and Wenwu Zhu

Abstract: With the growing integration of telecommunication networks, Internet of Things (IoT), and 5G networks, there is a tremendous demand for multimedia services over heterogeneous networks. According to recent survey reports, mobile video traffic accounted for 60 percent of total mobile data traffic in 2016, and it will reach up to 78 percent by the end of 2021. Users’ daily lives are inundated with multimedia services, such as online video streaming (e.g., YouTube and Netflix), social networks (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), IoT and machine generated video (e.g, surveillance cameras), and multimedia service providers (e.g., Over-the-Top (OTT) services). Multimedia data is thus becoming the dominant traffic in the near future for both wired and wireless networks.

W. Ji, Z. Li, H. V. Poor, C. Timmerer and W. Zhu, “Guest Editorial Multimedia Economics for Future Networks: Theory, Methods, and Applications,” in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 37, no. 7, pp. 1473-1477, July 2019.
doi: 10.1109/JSAC.2019.2918962

Link: https://doi.org/10.1109/JSAC.2019.2918962

June 25, 2019

Award, MMC

ACM NOSSDAV’19 paper on Bandwidth Prediction in Low-Latency Chunked Streaming received Excellence in DASH award at ACM MMSys 2019

Authors: Abdelhak Bentaleb (National University of Singapore), Christian Timmerer (Alpen-Adria Universität & Bitmovin Inc,), Ali C. Begen(Ozyegin University), and Roger Zimmermann (National University of Singapore)

Abstract: HTTP adaptive streaming (HAS) with chunked transfer encoding can be used to reduce latency without sacrificing the coding ef- ficiency. While this allows a media segment to be generated and delivered at the same time, it also causes grossly inaccurate band- width measurements, leading to incorrect bitrate selections. To overcome this effect, we design a novel Adaptive bitrate scheme for Chunked Transfer Encoding (ACTE) that leverages the unique nature of chunk downloads. It uses a sliding window to accurately measure the available bandwidth and an online linear adaptive filter to predict the available bandwidth into the future. Results show that ACTE achieves 96% measurement accuracy, which translates to a 64% reduction in stalls and a 27% increase in video quality.

Links:

– Slides/PDF: https://multimediacommunication.blogspot.com/2019/04/acm-nossdav19-bandwidth-prediction-in.html

– DASH Industry Forum Excellence in DASH Award at ACM MMSys 2019: https://multimediacommunication.blogspot.com/2019/06/dash-if-awarded-excellence-in-dash.html

June 24, 2019

Announcement, Research Areas

Philipp Moll and Sabrina Kletz presented their Demo on “Alternative inputs for games and AR/VR applications” @ MMSys 2019 in Amherst

Paper Title: Alternative inputs for games and AR/VR applications: deep headbanging on the web

Abstract: In multimedia research, scientific progress is often slowed downby high demands on hard- and software. However, hardware con-tinuously improves and today’s hardware got powerful enoughto meet the performance demands of complex 3D and deep learn-ing applications. With this demo, we demonstrate that utilizingdeep learning and 3D modeling is not a major barrier anymorewhen building prototypes for showcasing research projects. Ourweb-based game, called “HeadbangZ”, showcases a novel gesture-based input methodology realized through deeply learned poseestimation and user interaction in a 3D environment. Since gesture-based inputs increase the immersion in virtual environments, weassume this input methodology to be especially useful for AR/VRapplications and games. Furthermore, we demonstrate that rapidprototyping of applications using novel technologies, such as deeplearning, is even possible within 48 hours by developing a workingdemo within this time frame. Finally, we provide insights into whatwe learned during the development of HeadbangZ to encourageother researchers to make use of novel technologies. In referenceto Stephen Harper’s quote “Having hit a wall, the next logical stepis not to bang our heads against it.”, we hope that the presentationof HeadbangZ encourages researchers to bang their heads rhythmi-cally to rock music instead of angrily against a virtual wall createdby hard- and software limitations.

Authors: Philipp Moll, Andreas Leibetseder, Sabrina Kletz, Mathias Lux, Bernd Münzer (Institute of Information Technology, Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt)

More information on the paper can be found on: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3323832

June 24, 2019

Announcement, DPS, Project, Publication, Research Areas

A glimpse into ARTICONF meeting @Stavanger, Norway.

Prof. Radu Prodan coordinated EU H2020 Project ARTICONF team met at Stavanger and held technical cum plenary discussions between June 4th to June 7th 2019 with a goal to present some exciting development towards next generation social media.

Articonf meeting at Stavanger 2019

June 13, 2019

Announcement, MMC

QoMEX’19: Tile-based Streaming of 8K Omnidirectional Video: Subjective and Objective QoE Evaluation

Autor: Raimund Schatz (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology), Anatoliy Zabrovskiy (Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt), Christian Timmerer (Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt, Bitmovin Inc.)

Abstract: Omnidirectional video (ODV) streaming applications are becoming increasingly popular. They enable a highly immersive experience as the user can freely choose her/his field of view within the 360-degree environment. Current deployments are fairly simple but viewport-agnostic which inevitably results in high storage/bandwidth requirements and low Quality of Experience (QoE). A promising solution is referred to as tile- based streaming which allows to have higher quality within the user’s viewport while quality outside the user’s viewport could be lower. However, empirical QoE assessment studies in this domain are still rare. Thus, this paper investigates the impact of different tile-based streaming approaches and configurations on the QoE of ODV. We present the results of a lab-based subjective evaluation in which participants evaluated 8K omnidirectional video QoE as influenced by different (i) tile-based streaming approaches (full vs. partial delivery), (ii) content types (static vs. moving camera), and (iii) tile encoding quality levels determined by different quantization parameters. Our experimental setup is characterized by high reproducibility since relevant media delivery aspects (including the user’s head movements and dynamic tile quality adaptation) are already rendered into the respective processed video sequences. Additionally, we performed a complementary objective evaluation of the different test sequences focusing on bandwidth efficiency and objective quality metrics. The results are presented in this paper and discussed in detail which confirm that tile-based streaming of ODV improves visual quality while reducing bandwidth requirements.

Acknowledgment: This work was supported in part by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) under the Next Generation Video Streaming project “PROMETHEUS”.

Link: QoMEX_19__Tile_based_ODV_Streaming_QoE_camready.pdf

June 12, 2019

Announcement, DPS, Publication, Research Areas

Prof. Radu Prodan is the Program Chair for ISPDC 2019

Prof. Radu Prodan is the Program Chair for ISPDC 2019, the 18th IEEE International Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Computing, to be held at Amsterdam (Netherlands).

May 31, 2019

Announcement, DPS, Publication, Research Areas

ITEC representation @IPDPS 2019, 33rd IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium

The prestigious 33rd IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium, IPDPS 2019 held at Rio de Janerio, Brazil (May 20-24 2019) found representation from ITEC department at UNI-KLU in a number of activities including paper and poster presentations, panel discussions etc. led by Prof. Radu Prodan, Josef Hammer, and Nishant Saurabh.

1. Panel discussion @PAISE 2019, the collocated workshop @IPDPS.

Prof. Radu Prodan led the panel discussion on emerging Blockchain, Parallel AI and Edge computing technology and paradigms at PAISE (Parallel AI and Systems for the Edge), collocated workshop at the prestigious 33rd IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium, IPDPS 2019 along with some renowned researchers including Pete Beckman (Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago), Sandip Kundu (National Science Foundation), Tal Ben-Nun (ETH Zürich), and Ilkay Altintas (Chief Data Science Officer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center), moderated by Rajesh Sankaran (Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago). Prof. Prodan highlighted disruptive scenarios, typically posed with the arrival of next generation technologies and introduced EU H2020 project ARTICONF coordinated by UNI-KLU to the audience in the light of the panel topics.

2. Workshop paper presentation @PAISE 2019, the collocated workshop @IPDPS to be published in IPDPSW proceedings.

Josef Hammer presented the workshop paper “Transparent Access to 5G Edge Computing Services” accepted for publication at 33rd IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium workshop, PAISE 2019.

Authors: Josef Hammer, Philipp Moll and Hermann Hellwagner

3. Conference paper presentation @IPDPS 2019 Cloud Computing session to be published in IPDPS proceedings.

Nishant Saurabh presented the conference paper “Semantics-aware Virtual Machine Image Management in IaaS Clouds” accepted for publication at 33rd IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium , IPDPS 2019.

Authors: Nishant Saurabh (Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt), Julian Remmers (University of Innsbruck), Dragi Kimovski (Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt), Radu Prodan (Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt), Jorge G. Barbosa (LIACC, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto).

4. Poster presentation @IPDPS 2019 PhD Forum.

The ITEC representative members Josef Hammer and Nishant Saurabh presented respective posters amongst distinguished researchers. While, Josef’s poster titled “Transparent Access to 5G Edge Computing Services”, Nishant presented the poster on “Towards a semantic-centric VMI repository management”.

5. Session Chair @IPDPS 2019, Scheduling and Load balancing session.

Prof. Radu Prodan chaired the Scheduling and Load balancing session, which observed some interesting research works from all around the globe.

May 30, 2019

MMC

Talk of Philipp Moll on RAFNET Workshop 2019

Philipp Moll presented the paper “Distributing the Game State of Online Games: Towards an NDN Version of Minecraft” on the 6th International Workshop on Research Advancements in Future Networking Technologies. The Workshop was held in conjunction with the IEEE International Conference on Communications 2019 in Shanghai.

Authors: Philipp Moll, Sebastian Theuermann, Hermann Hellwagner (Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt), Jeff Burke (UCLA)

Abstract: Online games nowadays play an undeniably important role in the entertainment industry. The continuously increasing popularity of these services goes hand in hand with increased complexity of technical challenges. The networking part of current games relies on decades-old technologies, which were never intended to be used for today’s large-scale online games. Replacing the currently used connection-oriented networking approach by a content-centric architecture could yield advantages reaching beyond only avoiding inefficiencies found in IP-based online games. We propose a concept for a distributed Minecraft architecture, making use of these advantages by utilizing Named Data Networking (NDN) as the architectural basis. Our design decisions were guided by the insights we gained from examining Minecraft as a representative of current online games.

May 28, 2019