Distributed Adaptive Video Streaming using Inter-Server Data Distribution and Agent-based Adaptive Load Balancing

Abstract

As the number and hours of videos available within an organisation increases, as well as it’s demand, the need for fast video streaming applications arises. Cloud based services are not cost effective and are not an ideal choice for storing the ever-increasing video data that is usually stored and used only within a particular organisation, like a University. Hence, this paper proposes a web based system design to store and stream videos at a small-scale within an organisation. To improve the video viewing experience for the user, the system is flexible to handle sudden changes, like increase in number of requests. The system requires the use of a cluster of servers to deliver the content as a single server cannot handle the load as number of requests increases. This requires effective load distribution among the servers. This paper proposes a way to design this system for adaptive video streaming. This system is highly scalable and can handle high loads, i.e. a higher number of users connecting to the application simultaneously. This paper proposes an algorithm called inter-server load balancing algorithm with Adaptive Agent-based load balancing to solve this problem. The algorithms also incorporates dynamic video resolution delivery techniques to ensure smooth viewing experience in the whole user experience irrespective of the network speed and bandwidth.