GoalBit: the first free and open source peer-to-peer streaming network

Abstract

In this paper we present the GoalBit platform. GoalBit is the first open source peer-to-peer system for the distribution of real-time video streams through the Internet. The main advantage of a P2P architecture is the possibility of exploiting the available bandwidth unused by the set of user' hosts connected to the network. The main difficulty is that these hosts are typically highly dynamic, they continuously enter and leave the network. To deal with this problem, we use a mesh connectivity approach (bittorrent-like) where the stream is decomposed into several pieces sent by different peers to each client. Nowadays, the GoalBit platform is used by operators and by final users to broadcast their live contents. In this paper we explain by the first time the Goalbit architecture, its protocol, and how the content is packetized. To illustrate its potential, we present some empirical results measured in a popular final user channel, with more than 60 peers concurrently connected.