Effective video streaming using Mesh P2P with MDC over MANETs

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) streaming and Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) have turned out to be two of the most active research areas for pervasive computing. These areas were developed independently of each other with the result that there is insufficient verification of whether the P2P distribution paradigm and specifically P2P real-time video streaming would work on MANETs. In this paper, we demonstrate that mesh-based P2P streaming together with Multiple Description Coding (MDC) over MANETs effectively provides real-time video streaming. MDC, a promising video coding technique, is emerging as an alternative way to improve video quality for both P2P over an internet and for MANET applications. This paper shows that mesh-based P2P when combined with MDC results in improvement in delivered video quality making it acceptable for ad hoc networks. For that purpose, the GloMoSim simulator was modified to support mesh-based P2P and MDC. This kind of video streaming will be useful for many ad hoc applications such as search and rescue applications, military applications, inter-vehicular communication, and video conferencing.