Dynamic Adaptive Video Streaming: Towards a Systematic Comparison of ICN and TCP/IP

Streaming of video content over the Internet is experiencing an unprecedented growth. While video permeates every application, it also puts tremendous pressure in the network—to support users having heterogeneous accesses and expecting a high quality of experience, in a furthermore cost-effective manner. In this context, future internet paradigms, such as information centric networking (ICN), are particularly well suited to not only enhance video delivery at the client (as in the dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH) approach), but to also naturally and seamlessly extend video support deeper in the network functions. In this paper, we contrast ICN and transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) with an experimental approach, where we employ several state-of-the-art DASH controllers (PANDA, AdapTech, and BOLA) on an ICN versus TCP/IP network stack. Our campaign, based on tools that we developed and made available as open-source software, includes multiple clients (homogeneous vesrus heterogeneous mixture and synchronous vesrus asynchronous arrivals), videos (up to 4k resolution), channels (e.g., DASH profiles, emulated WiFi and LTE, and real 3G/4G traces), and levels of integration with an ICN network (i.e., vanilla named data networking (NDN), wireless loss detection and recovery at the access point, and load balancing). Our results clearly illustrate, as well as quantitatively assess, the benefits of ICN-based streaming, warning about potential pitfalls that are however easy to avoid.