IRIS

Summary

IRIS is a technology that enhances live streaming in crowded places by using mobile devices as wireless extenders. It relies on edge clouds to enable live multicast streaming, multi-path scheduling to exploit different wireless technologies, adjustable forward error correction to improve decoding efficiency, and a public key infrastructure to guarantee security and integrity. It works without any changes to software or hardware stacks and it can lower the costs of wireless infrastructures.

Problem

Live streaming is a common and attractive way to create and consume content, but it has many difficulties in crowded places, such as stadiums, concerts and museums. These places have scarce wireless coverage and bandwidth, which can degrade the quality and performance of live streams. Conventional solutions need costly and complicated infrastructures, which may not be sufficient to meet the demand for interactive and immersive experiences. 

Technology

IRIS is a technology that uses the crowdsourcing of mobile devices and edge clouds to support live-streaming with opportunistic mobile edge cloud offloading. It works without any changes to software or hardware stacks and can lower the costs of wireless infrastructures, while optimizing the streaming process, such as:

• Edge clouds: It forms edge clouds with nearby devices that support live multicast streaming and reduce the burden on the wireless infrastructure.
• Multi-path scheduling: It transmits streams over multiple paths using different wireless technologies, such as WiFi, cellular and Bluetooth, to increase the throughput and reliability.
• Adjustable forward error correction: It adjusts the level of error correction to the network conditions and the device capabilities to improve the decoding efficiency and quality.
• Packet interleaving: It mixes the packets to reduce the effect of burst losses and improve the smoothness of playback.
• Public key infrastructure: It protects the streams from unauthorized access and tampering by using a trusted server and a certificate authority to ensure the security and integrity.

Benefits and Advantages

IRIS offers many benefits and advantages for live streaming in crowded places as:

• Bandwidth reduction: It lowers the bandwidth usage by up to 92% compared to conventional approaches, which can save money and resources.
• Latency reduction: It lowers the latency by up to 50% compared to conventional approaches, which can increase the interactivity and immersion of live streams.
• Reliability improvement: It improves the reliability by achieving a 90% success rate in packet delivery compared to conventional approaches, which can avoid buffering and glitches.
• Security enhancement: It enhances the security by using a public key infrastructure to secure the streams from unauthorized access and tampering.

Possible Applications and Use Cases

IRIS can be used for various scenarios where live streaming is needed in crowded places as: 

• Sports events: It can support live streaming of sports events, such as football matches, basketball games and tennis tournaments, to mobile devices of spectators and fans, who can watch different perspectives and angles of the action. 
• Musical concerts: It can support live streaming of musical concerts, festivals and shows, to mobile devices of attendees and viewers, who can feel the music and atmosphere from different locations and stages. Cultural exhibitions: It can support live streaming of cultural exhibitions, museums and art galleries, to mobile devices of visitors and tourists.
• Educational lectures: It can enable live streaming of educational lectures, seminars and workshops, to mobile devices of students and teachers, who can interact with each other and with the speakers in real time.