Steward: smart edge based joint QoE optimization for adaptive video streaming

With the increase of HTTP-based adaptive video streaming over the Internet, multiple clients may compete for a shared bottleneck bandwidth, which brings some damage to the fairness and stability of Quality of Experience (QoE). This paper presents Steward, a system that enforces multi-client joint QoE optimization for bottleneck bandwidth sharing. Joint QoE optimization refers to improving QoE fairness among clients with various video devices and providing differentiated service for clients with different priorities. Steward deploys the adaptive bitrate (ABR) algorithm based on neural networks (NN) and reinforcement learning at the network edge. The ABR agent trains the NN model through experience and makes appropriate bitrate guidance for video chunks to be requested by clients sharing the same bottleneck bandwidth. We compare Steward with state-of-the-art algorithms under different network conditions. Compared with all considered algorithms and conditions, Steward reduces 30%~85% QoE unfairness under the premise of differentiated service.