Enhancement of IPTV using a Wireless Sensor Network

1. Enhancement of IPTV using a Wireless Sensor Network Sandeep Kakumanu,Sriram Lakshmanan, and Raghupathy Sivakumar GNAN Research Group Georgia Institute of Technology

2. IPTV-Introduction • Packet based transmission of television streams using the Internet Protocol • Envisaged Advantages (over conventional TV): • On demand channel access permits bandwidth to be utilized entirely for active channels • High levels of user interaction • Viewable channels not limited by either geographical location • Number of channels not limited by access link bandwidth • Video sources not restricted to high end content providers enabling larger variety and diversity of channels • Allows integration with the Internet

4. IPTV Architectures • Classification based on connection nature • Unicast • Multicast • Classification based on communication infrastructure • Model 1: Public internet with no provisioning • Model 2: Public internet with service provisioning • Model 3: Private IP Network

5. Challenges • Loss rate • Bandwidth constraints lead to high and varying loss rates • The acceptable loss rate for television < 1% * • Channel switching latency • Delays from server to client (due to potentially large geographical separation) • On-demand nature also incurs stream stop, setup delays • Acceptable channel switching latency < 1s * • Management of large number of subscribers *[Source:Gartner Research Report , 2005]

6. WSN Enhancement 1: Quality • Principle “What you see is what you fetch” • In cases where there is no active user but the television is on, such streams can be communicated at low priority, low data rate or even paused. • Realization • The Wireless Sensor network senses user presence/absence. • A combination of light sensors mounted on the chair and accelerometers to detect cushion deformation is used to determine user presence/absence. • Multimedia stream control is done based on sensor values.

7. WSN Enhancement 2:Pre-fetching • Principle “Fetch possible next channel(s) just before the user switches” • Pre-fetching is a powerful technique that can be used to reduce the user perceived channel switching latency. • Realization • The WSN at the user premises can be used to provide real time feedback about when to pre-fetch and when not based on • The motion of the remote control • Accelerometers used to detect motion of remote control.

8. WSN Enhancement 3:Targeted Advertising • Principle • One of the goals of IPTV is to provide user-specific and relevant content • Targeted Advertising (user relevant advertisements) is a unique possibility of IPTV • Realization • A WSN enables collecting information about the user on which the targeted advertising decisions can be based • The ambient conditions of the room or the environment around can be used • Use temperature, humidity, pressure, light sensors

10. Future Work • Optimize the code at both the IPTV software and the Sensor Network software for minimum possible reaction times • Modify the medium access scheme of the sensor network for reduced delay • Explore use of WSN for IPTV over wireless. • Design algorithms for cases where each house has several televisions. • Design algorithms for unicast and multicast load balancing using sensed data