Online AL-FEC protection over mobile unicast services

Forward error correction (FEC) is a method for error control of data transmission adopted in several mobile multicast standards. FEC is a feedback free error recovery method where the sender introduces redundant data in advance with the source data enabling the recipient to recover from different arbitrary packet losses. Recently, the adoption of FEC error control method has been boosted by the introduction of powerful Application Layer FEC (AL-FEC) codes i.e., RaptorQ codes. Furthermore, several works have emerged aiming to address the efficient application of AL-FEC protection introducing deterministic or randomized online algorithms. The investigation of AL-FEC application as primary or auxiliary error protection method over mobile multicast environments is a well investigated field. However, the opportunity of utilizing the AL-FEC over mobile unicast services as the only method for error control, replacing common feedback based methods that are now considered to be obsolete, is not yet examined. In this work we provide an analysis on the feasibility of AL-FEC protection over unicast delivery utilizing online algorithms on the application of AL-FEC codes with exceptional recovery performance.