Concurrent Video and Data
Streaming using IEEE 802.11ac
Final Capstone Presentation
Team # 5
Aesha Parikh
Akhilesh Tinniyam Kannan
Nilay Parikh
Sree Sagar Raghavendra
Faculty Advisor:
Dr. Thomas Schwengler
Adjunct Instructor, EE Department
University of Colorado Boulder
Industry Advisor:
John Blakely
Principal Wireless Architect
CenturyLink, Inc.
Introduction
Background

Increase in number of wireless clients in residential networks

Higher quality of experience demanded by users

Concurrent video and data streaming requirements

802.11n: Current state-of-the-art

Large number of devices operating in 2.4GHz

802.11ac: Proposed technology

5GHz: Free and clear spectrum
References:

“802.11ac In-Depth,” WP_80211acInDepth_041414, Aruba Networks, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, 2014.

“Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2013–2018,” Cisco.
Introduction
Statement of Problem
Concurrent Video and Data
Streaming over 802.11n
Transport protocol is TCP
Jitter and Latency issues for
Video streams
SLA requirements not met
Use of UDP as transport
protocol
802.11n fails
Introduction
Research Question

Is 802.11ac a practical replacement for 802.11n for video and data
distribution in a residential setting to address the performance
issues of 802.11n?

Are 802.11ac devices capable of simultaneously handling HD (High
Definition) live video, VOD (Video on demand), and data streams
while ensuring good quality of experience?
Subproblems

Satisfying QoS requirements for concurrent video and data streams

Number of simultaneous data and video clients supported

Throughputs achieved for TCP and UDP streams at different ranges
in a residential setting
Introduction
Extending the state-of-the-art | Novelty of research

Previous research has shown that 802.11n fails for concurrent
video and data streaming inside residential network

Test case to support the large-scale roll-out of 802.11ac for this
application

802.11ac has inherent advantages over 802.11n at the PHY and
MAC layer (Channel size, Modulation, Beamforming)

802.11ac provides high throughputs to multiple clients, unlike
802.11n

Test results to support the use of UDP as the transport protocol
for video streams inside a residential network
References:

V. Vora and T. Brown, “High rate video streaming over 802.11n in dense Wi-Fi environments,” in 2010 IEEE 35th Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN), pp.
1054–1061, 2010.

M. Gast, 802.11ac: A Survival Guide. O’Reilly Media, Incorporated, 2013.
Introduction

Successful project: Test results validates the research hypothesis

One of the first works that focus on detailed testing for concurrent
video and data streaming using 802.11ac

Submitted paper to IEEE PIMRC conference (September 2014)
Test Setup
Test Parameters

802.11ac Access Point – Carrier grade

Number of transmitting antenna – 4

Channel width – 80MHz

Channel number – 157

Number of iterations of each test – 10

Duration of each test – 60 seconds (IETF Recommended)
Test Setup
Test location 1



Discovery Learning Center – University of Colorado Boulder
Emulating residential setting Over-The-Air (OTA)
Ixia’s IxChariot 7.30 | Xeon E-5 2600 Servers | 802.11ac AP
Test location 2



CenturyLink, Inc. – Littleton, CO
RF isolated chamber | Lab environment | Copper meshed walls
IxiaVeriwave chassis | WaveQOE to generate traffic profiles
Test Setup
Test locations
Research Methodology and Results
Test 1: SLA Test - Setup




Testing the performance of 802.11ac and 802.11n while conforming
to stringent SLA requirements
Maps to the first subproblem
20 clients emulating a residential network
Protocols emulated: TCP, UDP, VoIP, RTP, RTPVideo
Flow Type
SLA Metrics
VoIP
slaMode = R-Value-78
RTP Video
DelayFactor-15 ms, Mlr -0 pkts/min
http
per flow-80%
tcp
per flow-80%
udp
Latency-20 ms, Jitter-20 ms, PacketLoss-0%
rtp
per flow-80%, Latency-20 ms, Jitter-20 ms, PacketLoss-0%
Research Methodology and Results
Test 1: SLA Test – Results
802.11n
Flow
Type
VoIP
RTP
Video
ftp
http
tcp
udp
Num
Flows
10
rtp
802.11n
Jitter
Latency (ms)
(ms)
114
13.6
802.11ac
802.11ac
% Packet
Jitter
Latency (ms)
Loss
(ms)
9.2
11.9
2
% Packet
Loss
0
5
158.5
12.1
10.9
13.2
1.5
0
10
20
5
5
1886.5
31
8.3
7.2
7.3
34.8
22
2
0
0
0
0
5
237.8
19.6
17.9
21.7
2.8
0
Research Methodology and Results
Test 2: Maximum Client Test - Setup




Identifying the maximum number of clients supported while satisfying
SLA requirements
Maps to the second subproblem
The number of clients incremented linearly from 20 clients
Heavily dependent on the DUT (Device Under Test)
Test 2: Maximum Client Test - Results


Maximum of 28 clients satisfied SLA for the DUT
Simultaneous transmission of multiple protocols like FTP, UDP, TCP,
VoIP, and RTP Video
Research Methodology and Results
Test 3: Rate vs. Range Test - Setup



Testing the effect of distance on the throughput of 802.11ac and
802.11n devices
Maps to the third subproblem
RSSI levels ranging from -45dBm to -75dBm
Test 3: Rate vs. Range Test - Results
RATE VS RANGE COMPARISON
THROUGHPUT IN MBPS
800
720.8
700
673.735
626.67
600
554.89
500
483.11
427.25
400
371.39
300
200
102.6 105.567 108.01 107.59 107.43
100
92.3
26.94
0
(-)45
(-)50
(-)55
(-)60
(-)65
RSSI (DBM)
802.11n
802.11ac
(-)70
(-)75
Research Methodology and Results
Test 3: Rate vs. Range Test - Results
Discussion of Results

Latency (13.2ms) and Jitter (1.5ms) satisfy IEEE specified SLA
(20ms) and maintains a high QoE for the users (0 packets lost)

Supports potential increase in the number of clients and rise in
bandwidth requirements

High throughputs values (400Mbps – 800Mbps) obtained at various
RSSI levels within a residence

Exposes the incompetence of 802.11n for the targeted application
Conclusion

This presentation shows the throughput and QoS statistics for
802.11ac and 802.11n

Test results support the use of UDP as a transport protocol for
video streams in a residential WLAN

802.11ac is a practical replacement for 802.11n for concurrent
video and data streaming

802.11ac can be widely deployed to provide better QoE for the
users
Future Research

This research can be used as a reference for 802.11ac testing

Use of 160MHz channel when available

Usage of MU-MIMO, which can further enhance the results

Extension of this application for an enterprise setting

Testing the impact of various codec algorithms on video bitrates
Acknowledgement
Dr. Thomas Schwengler
John Blakely
Dr. Tim Brown
Dr. David Reed
Jose Santos
Mark Dehus
Zubin Ingah
Tony Bieniek
Bernie McKibben
Steve Glennon
Vikas Sarawat
Neeharika Allanki
Charles Cook
Drumeel Thakkar
Thank You

Group 5
TLEN 5710 Capstone
University of Colorado Boulder