Feasibility analysis of zero-overhead near video-on-demand protocols in satellite channels

In the nVoD (near video-on-demand) paradigm, video is distributed through broadcast channels with constrained bandwidth, so that at reception there is a bounded playback start time that is independent of the number of users. In other words, there is unlimited scalability for low bandwidth cost, at the expense of a bounded start time. Thus, regarding bandwidth, nVoD schemas are well suited for satellite channels, so packet losses have not been considered in their context for a long time. Recent research based on digital fountains and intrinsic redundancy of nVoD transmissions has produced nVoD protocols with correction capabilities, which have little or zero impact on bandwidth usage. The authors analyse the most recent proposals using satellite channel models and compare them in terms of error correction performance and client and server resources. © 2010 The Institution of Engineering and Technology.