Multicast Applications Bob Riddle – Technologist 27 September 2004

What’s different about Multicast? What if your home telephone were multicast instead of unicast? Anyone old enough to remember when your home phone was a “party line”? Anyone old enough to remember TV before cable TV & satellite TV? –“Broadcast” to local area – cable/satellite TV kind of like “multicast”, lets you tune to a non- local “broadcast” channel Multicast – learn the language, acronyms, the protocols IGMP (v1, v2, v3) PIM, MSDP, RP, BSR You can either become a network engineer or find some useful tools

Some useful tools … See if you’re on a multicast-capable network If Multicast Capable: Yes – things will likely work just fine

Do a little bit of network testing Make sure you can get from here to there without multicast Detective – E2E bandwidth test Use old-fashion tools: ping, traceroute, ftp Try a simple multicast application Vic, rat, sdr - Listen to some multicast stream If all this works for you – you’re ready to run ConfXP, the AG, … whatever

Is multicast a “good” thing?  Think about “bigvideo” streams: DV/IP: 30 mbps stream, for “broadcast” events the unicast client/server model won’t scale on your network HDTV Compressed with MPEG2 is about 20 mbps  It’s an alternative to the MCU Moves “session” management to the network layer You don’t need the investment in an MCU You (most likely) will need a “bridge” ( )

Access Grid – Multicast Application  provide a sense of presence, of “being there” where distributed people could interact as if they were sharing the same “room”.  using readily available collaboration technology that was affordable  integrate with existing security services and available network capabilities

Access Grid – Multicast Application  support platforms that your faculty, researchers, students were comfortable using 1.Windows XP/ Linux variants (RedHat, Slackware, Fedora, Debian, …) 3.Mac OS X (in the future)  support existing environments to allow people to collaborate where they are 1.Room – Shared Display, Multiple Video Streams, Single Audio Stream 2.Desktop – Desktop Monitor, Multiple Video Streams, Single Audio Stream 3.Laptop – Laptop Display, Single Video Stream, Single Audio Stream

AG looks something like this Large-format displays Multiple audio and video streams Shared applications (PowerPoint) (over 200 nodes)

ConferenceXP – Microsoft Learning Sciences & Technology Group “AG-like” Goals: Single-machine architecture capable of scaling to handle large, group-to-group-to-group conference scenarios Simple software installation and hardware configuration, No conference session operator is required Cameras, microphones and other peripherals are configured for a ‘best fit’ default configuration Rich, immersive collaboration environments require that audio and video streams are delivered with high quality and low latency Collaboration venues provide the virtual equivalent of meeting and gathering places A simple, configurable archival system enables individual participants to record and playback conferences

ConferenceXP Architecture Conference API ConferenceXP Application Network Transport RTDocuments API Rtp API Custom UIRTDocuments UIAudio/Video UI DirectShow RTDocuments Capability Viewer Capability Sender Audio/Video Capability Viewer Capability Sender Custom Capability Viewer Capability Sender IETF 1889 RFP Protocol Multicast & Unicast UDP/IP ConferenceXP Services DiagnosticsArchive/PlaybackVenueReflector/Gateway

ConferenceXP Client  Provides a high bandwidth, low latency audio and visual capability  Utilizes Windows Media High Quality Audio & Video Codec's, DirectShow, and a custom low latency networking stack (RTP).  The ConferenceXP UI is integrated The Edge, an MSR Learning Sciences and Technology project focused on building a UI for learning web services  The conferencing architecture supports: Full screen video at 30 fps, with 250 ms latency FireWire cameras to enable high quality, efficient video capture Five way conferencing < 2 Mb/s Venue Service Provides the services necessary to create and manage ‘collaboration and learning venues’ Venue Service interfaces are exposed as Web Services

DVTS: What if you could use your HandiCam for Video Collaboration? you could send & receive High Quality A/V It doesn’t require funny, expensive machines It doesn’t require involve IP issues (royalties) It doesn’t require funny, expensive cameras It does require a network capable of 30 mpbs all you need is a capable Network and … a DV capable camera (HandiCam, DVCAM, DVCPro) with IEEE1394 (firewire) capability DV receiver (DV Player, TV) that is firewire capable Or an analog/digital converter(s) if using a non-firewire capable camera/receiver

DVTS: It looks like this:

DVTS: How can I get started? DVTS Software encoding/decoding using the PC processor, NIC, etc. Runs on number of platform, though Windows XP has the best GUI and uses PC monitor for display Requires a firewire card if you are a “sender” (and receiver for non-WinXP) Provided by DVTS Consortium & WIDE project CometDVIP Hardware implementation from Fujitsu Labs Allows a “blackbox” like device to support DV/IP Current video conferencing tests have been remarkable

where does DV/IP live in the video “neighborhood”?  H.323 – How is it different? Multicast use removes need for MCU Higher quality, lower latency a/v streams  Access Grid – can I use it with my AG? Current integration work underway (APAN/ANU)  MPEG2 – why not just use mpeg2? No “IP” encumbrance, Higher quality, lower latency a/v streams  HDTV - why not just use HDTV? Lower latency than compressed (20mbps) HDTV stream Lower bandwidth than uncompressed HDTV stream  “Sweet spot” – if you have the bandwidth

… in the wings … Pocket Video …  test, experiment, develop and integrate various interactive video technology on handheld devices over the Internet.  allow those who possess such devices to participate in existing collaborative sessions, such as AG, SIP, and VRVS conferencing.  exploit Handheld device capability in ways that extend the research & teaching missions of universities while taking advantage of readily available and affordable technology.

… in the wings … Pocket Video …  test, experiment, develop and integrate various interactive video technology on handheld devices over the Internet.  allow those who possess such devices to participate in existing collaborative sessions, such as AG, SIP, and VRVS conferencing.  exploit Handheld device capability in ways that extend the research & teaching missions of universities while taking advantage of readily available and affordable technology.

… in the wings … Pocket Video … The following projects are currently proposed:  explore use of AG tools on iPaq using Familiar Linux  explore VRVS 3.0 on iPaq under WinCE  explore Microsoft Portrait work done by Microsoft Research  explore Palm Pilot resources available to support collaborative, interactive applications

?