Video Encoding and Streaming Mechanisms in IoT Low Power Networks

• Published in: 2015 3rd International Conference on Future Internet of Things and Cloud pp. 357 - 362
• Main Authors: Pereira, E. G., Pereira, R.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.08.2015
• Subjects: Bit rate; Compression; Encoding; H264 encoding; Internet; Quantization (signal); Scalability; Streaming; Streaming media; Wireless Communication
• DOI: 10.1109/FiCloud.2015.88

Low power networks form a fundamental supporting communication platform for various "things" that help in realising the Internet-of-Things (IoT) vision of better, smarter, interconnected world. The IoT paradigm is an emerging area that comes with a number of challenges that requires rethinking of how conventional communication and computational mechanisms can be adapted for this new model where the Internet does not only connect end users but also physical entities, also known as smart devices. While the low power networks provide energy optimised solution for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications and interaction between the smart entities, there are also some concerns around the conventional video encoding and streaming mechanisms suitability in such networks. In this paper we review widely adopted video encoders such as MPEG and H.264 and assess their suitability for the low power networks within different video streaming scenarios. In previous work we considered video steaming in low power networks related challenges and elicited a number of possible recommendations based on specific requirements associated with IoT. In this paper we present a discussion of applications where video streaming in IoT low power networks will play an important part, thus highlighting the need for adequate mechanisms to facilitate the deployment of these applications. Also, we present further discussions on the previously identified issues and provide some evaluation results assessing the viability of our recommendations. Furthermore, we discuss how the high error rate associated with wireless communications channels, combined with the low power networked resources, dictate different requirements and solutions for achieving acceptable quality of service.