By John Ulm, Ajay Luthra, Praveen Moorthy, Mark Schmidt, Haifeng Xu, ARRIS, Inc.
This paper documents the research and lab results for using Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) protocols for a managed video service. It quantifies the issues with unmanaged ABR including unfairness, instability and inefficiencies. It then explores some potential solutions including using either CMTS QoS or Server based algorithms in the cloud.
This ABR research has led to the evolution of Smart ABR (SABR) allowing operators to provide a first rate video service with exceptional Quality of Experience while retaining the underlying benefits of Adaptive protocols. The paper highlights lab results showing the optimization and Video Quality achieved. With SABR, operators can significantly increase their IP Video capacity while gracefully handling congestion and providing an improved user experience.