A Scalable SSM-based Multicast Communication Layer for Multimedia Networked Virtual Environments
Abstract
This paper describes a communication layer which is suitable for real-time multimedia virtual environments (VEs) that need to achieve high scalability such as computer games involving multimedia exchanges. This approach is based on the Single Source Multicast (SSM) model as the underlying network infrastructure. Though the SSM model might, at first glance, look more appropriate for streaming-like applications, we show that it is possible to take advantage of such a communication layer to solve the new issues that the application layer has to address in the SSM environment. We even outline that SSM has benefits over Any Source Multicast (ASM), in that it provides greater flexibility in flow management. As opposed to alternative techniques such as peer-to-peer overlays, the use of network-layer multicast performs very well in terms of latency. Our demonstration application embeds multimedia conferencing capabilities to demonstrate that real-time and massively multi-player applications can be successfully implemented on top of this communication layer.
Loading...