0000000000012309
AUTHOR
Miguel Garcia-pineda
Performance evaluation of different techniques to estimate subjective quality in live video streaming applications over LTE-Advance mobile networks
Abstract Current mobile service providers are offering Gigabit Internet access over LTE-Advanced networks. Traditional services, such as live video streaming, over wired networks are feasible on these networks. However different aspects should be taken into account due to the fast changing network conditions as well as the constrained resources of the mobile phones, in order to provide a good subjective video quality in terms of Mean Opinion Score (MOS). Our goal is to estimate and predict this subjective metric without information or reference from the original video, known as Non Reference approach. This approach is important for the Service Provider from a practical point of view, becaus…
Multi-resolution quality-based video coding system for DASH scenarios
Today, more than 85% of Internet traffic has a multimedia component. Video streaming occupies a large part of this percentage mainly because this type of content is provided by the most used applications on the Internet (e.g. Twitch, TikTok, Disney+, YouTube, Netflix, etc.). Most of these platforms use HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) to send this media content to end users in order to ensure a good quality of experience (QoE). But, this QoE should be guaranteed from the video to be transmitted, i.e., the video should have an adequate quality by minimizing the bitrate before transmission. In order to solve this issue, we present a system capable of encoding a video in several resolutions given…
Psychoacoustic Annoyance Implementation With Wireless Acoustic Sensor Networks for Monitoring in Smart Cities
Soundscape standard (ISO 12913) is mainly oriented to describe the psychoacoustic annoyance (PA) due to the perceived sound in different environments. The evaluation of this annoyance is commonly based on the Zwicker and Fastl model that defines several components related to this subjective annoyance, such as loudness, sharpness, roughness, and fluctuation strength. But due to their complexity, these components are difficult to be calculated on small board computers (SBCs) in real time in order to enable a wireless acoustic sensor network for PA monitoring. In this article, we describe the necessary procedures to implement the complete psychoacoustic model by Zwicker and Fastl in a precise …
Experimental trade-offs between different strategies for multihop communications evaluated over real deployments of wireless sensor network for environmental monitoring
Although much work has been done since wireless sensor networks appeared, there is not a great deal of information available on real deployments that incorporate basic features associated with these networks, in particular multihop routing and long lifetimes features. In this article, an environmental monitoring application (Internet of Things oriented) is described, where temperature and relative humidity samples are taken by each mote at a rate of 2 samples/min and sent to a sink using multihop routing. Our goal is to analyse the different strategies to gather the information from the different motes in this context. The trade-offs between ‘sending always’ and ‘buffering locally’ approac…
Adaptive live video streaming on low-cost wireless multihop networks for road traffic surveillance in smart cities
Abstract Traffic surveillance is an important issue for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) that helps detect incidents automatically, such as wrong-way drivers, still-standing vehicles and jams. Sometimes these systems require a fast and short-term deployment of video cameras. In these cases, ad-hoc networks could be a low-cost and feasible option, but they have poor performance for video delivery. Thus, we propose a smart live video adaptive streaming technique in order to transport video streams from the cameras to the external road traffic monitoring servers. To achieve this goal, these networks need a thorough study in order to analyze video quality under their inherent constraint…
Using Factor Analysis Techniques to Find Out Objective Video Quality Metrics for Live Video Streaming over Cloud Mobile Media Services
The increased adoption of smartphones, the access to mobile broadband networks and the availability of public Clouds allow new multimedia services, called Cloud Mobile Media Services. Under this new architecture the proliferation of live video streaming applications and the Quality of Experience (QoE) given by the final user are an issue, due to the higher and variable delay, as result of the virtualization methods used in the Clouds. Thus in this paradigm new challenges appear related to keep and estimate a good QoE in terms of a standarized subjective video quality called Mean Opinion Score (MOS). In this paper we analyze different approaches based on Factor Analysis techniques to estimat…
Cost-Effective eHealth System Based on a Multi-Sensor System-on-Chip Platform and Data Fusion in Cloud for Sport Activity Monitoring
eHealth systems provide medical support to users and contribute to the development of mobile and quality health care. They also provide results on the prevention and follow-up of diseases by monitoring health-status indicators and methodical data gathering in patients. Telematic management of health services by means of the Internet of Things provides immediate support and it is cheaper than conventional physical presence methods. Currently, wireless communications and sensor networks allow a person or group to be monitored remotely. The aim of this paper is to develop and assess a system for monitoring physiological parameters to be applied in different scenarios, such as health or sports.…
Multivariate statistical technique over QoS variables to analyze video quality metrics on IEEE 802.11ac networks
[EN] We present the results from a measurementbasedperformance evaluation of wireless networks basedon IEEE 802.11ac standard in an indoor environment, withthe aim to analyze their performance under high definitionstreaming video applications. We focus our study on analyzingthe highest performance of these standards using off-theshelfequipment as well as the behavior of Quality of Servicevariables and how they affect to the video quality. Thus, wehave analyzed and measured these variables and have applieda multivariate statistical technique, called Factor Analysis,and finally discuss their behavior.
Practical Considerations in the Implementation of Collaborative Beamforming on Wireless Sensor Networks
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are composed of spatially distributed autonomous sensor devices, named motes. These motes have their own power supply, processing unit, sensors and wireless communications However with many constraints, such as limited energy, bandwidth and computational capabilities. In these networks, at least one mote called a sink, acts as a gateway to connect with other networks. These sensor networks run monitoring applications and then the data gathered by these motes needs to be retrieved by the sink. When this sink is located in the far field, there have been many proposals in the literature based on Collaborative Beamforming (CB), also known as Distributed or Cooper…
A holistic modeling for QoE estimation in live video streaming applications over LTE Advanced technologies with Full and Non Reference approaches
Abstract Current mobile networks are providing high speed access to Internet at a rate of Gigabits per second. In this scenario, traditional services over wired networks are an alternative, in particular those based on live video streaming. But in the transition, different issues should be considered due to the rapid changing network conditions and the limited resources of the mobile devices. These issues should be taken into account to keep a good Quality of Experience (QoE) of the video in terms of a high Mean Opinion Score (MOS), a subjective video quality. Our goal is to estimate and predict this subjective metric in a holistic manner. Thus, we have analyzed and measured different varia…
Speech Intelligibility Analysis and Approximation to Room Parameters through the Internet of Things
In recent years, Wireless Acoustic Sensor Networks (WASN) have been widely applied to different acoustic fields in outdoor and indoor environments. Most of these applications are oriented to locate or identify sources and measure specific features of the environment involved. In this paper, we study the application of a WASN for room acoustic measurements. To evaluate the acoustic characteristics, a set of Raspberry Pi 3 (RPi) has been used. One is used to play different acoustic signals and four are used to record at different points in the room simultaneously. The signals are sent wirelessly to a computer connected to a server, where using MATLAB we calculate both the impulse response (IR…
Combining Inter-Subject Modeling with a Subject-Based Data Transformation to Improve Affect Recognition from EEG Signals
Existing correlations between features extracted from Electroencephalography (EEG) signals and emotional aspects have motivated the development of a diversity of EEG-based affect detection methods. Both intra-subject and inter-subject approaches have been used in this context. Intra-subject approaches generally suffer from the small sample problem, and require the collection of exhaustive data for each new user before the detection system is usable. On the contrary, inter-subject models do not account for the personality and physiological influence of how the individual is feeling and expressing emotions. In this paper, we analyze both modeling approaches, using three public repositories. T…
Near field improvements of stochastic collaborative beamforming in wireless sensor networks
Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are groups of small devices that contain a microcontroller in which a large number of sensors can be added. They transmit data and communicate to each other in the ISM band, standard IEEE 802.15.4, exchanging packets using a multi-hop routing. These devices are named motes and are nodes of the WSN. They are very simple and easy to program, powered by batteries of 1.5Volts (AA and AAA). The nodes are autonomous elements that can be deployed implementing any type of network. In a typical deployment the nodes communicate with each other and with a master node or Base Station (BS), which in turn transmits the information to an external server, which collects the e…
Cloud-based eHealth video encoding system for real time thermographic streaming: Performance evaluation
Recent studies about the use of cloud platforms indicate that more than three-fourths of healthcare institutions apply these technologies in their daily lives. However, in most cases the cloud is based on “Infrastructure as a Service”, instead of developing new applications using the benefits that can bring us this type of technology. For these reasons, this paper shows a private cloud-based system to provide a new application based on thermographic video streaming. In this case, the cloud architecture is divided into three zones. The first zone is where the patient is under medical supervision through body temperature analysis using a global thermal camera. The second zone is the cloud its…
MediaDASH Tool: Plataforma Web para la Codificación, Difusión y Recepción de Videos DASH
[ES] Hoy en día el tráfico de video de internetsignifica alrededor del 65-70% del tráfico total. Se prevéque en 2019 aumente hasta el 80%. Debido a esto se hacenecesario optimizar y mejorar las tecnologías relacionadascon la transmisión de video para garantizar una calidad deexperiencia adecuada. Es por ello que se están desarrollando nuevos protocolos de transmisión de videoadaptativos basados en DASH. Debido a que su uso estáaumentando en los últimos años para realizar streamingsobre HTTP. En este artículo presentamos la herramientaMediaDASH Tool, la cual es una aplicación web quepermite de manera muy intuitiva poder comprimir ypreparar videos para su difusión con DASH. Así como suposteri…
Uso de Software-Defined Radio en la enseñanza de sistemas de comunicaciones
[ES] En la docencia de sistemas de comunicación hay una componente teórica elevada. La percepción de los estudiantes al estudiar estas asignaturas es negativa. Este trabajo trata de explicar la motivación y la estrategia seguida para reorientar esta percepción a partir de la introducción de elementos de “Software-Defined Radio” (SDR) y “Universal Software Radio Peripherals” (USRP) en diferentes asignaturas del Grado de Ingenier´ıa Telem´atica de la Universitat de València
Stochastic Collaborative Beamforming in Wireless Sensor Networks
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are composed of spatially distributed autonomous sensor devices, named motes. These devices are constituted by a microcontroller, sensors, and they have the ability to communicate in the ISM frequency band using the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. They have their own power supply, AA or AAA batteries, processing unit, sensors and wireless communications. Usually, the motes exchange packets using a multihop routing, and the maximum communication distance emitter-receiver is around 100m. At least one mote acts as a gateway, and the data gathered by the sensors of each mote have to be sent to this mote that is named sink or Base Station (BS). In a WSN the BS is within t…
Game-based learning supported by audience response tools: game proposals and preliminary assessment
The so-called game-based learning strategies are based on introducing games in the classrooms to improve aspects such as student performance, concentration and effort. Currently, they provide a very useful resource to increase the motivation of university students, generating a better atmosphere among peers and between student and teacher, which in turn is generally translated into better academic results. However, the design of games that successfully achieve the desired teaching-learning objectives is not a trivial task. This work focuses on the design of games that allow the assessment of ICT-related university subjects. Specifically, three different games are proposed, all based on stud…
Steered Response Power Localization of Acoustic Passband Signals
The vast majority of localization approaches using phase transform (PHAT) consider that the sources of interest are wideband low-pass sources. While this may be the usual case for common audio signals such as speech, PHAT methods are affected negatively by modulation artifacts when the sources to be localized are passband signals. In these cases, steered response power PHAT localization becomes less robust. This letter analyzes the form of generalized cross-correlation functions with PHAT when passband acoustic signals are considered, proposing approaches for increasing the localization performance through the mitigation of these negative effects.
Cloud-based elastic architecture for distributed video encoding: Evaluating H.265, VP9, and AV1
Abstract Areas with social and business impact such as entertainment, healthcare, surveillance, and e-learning would benefit from improvements in video coding and transcoding services. New codecs, such as AV1, are being developed to deal with new demands for high video resolutions with bandwidth constraints and quality requirements. However, these new codecs have high computational requirements and new strategies are needed to accelerate their processing. Cloud computing offers interesting features such as on-demand resource allocation, multitenancy, elasticity, and resiliency among others. Deploying video coding and transcoding services on these infrastructures is suitable because it allow…
Study of transmission parameters under controlled multipath environment using Rasp Pi3
The evaluation of QoS in mobile multipath environments is an interesting topic in modern communications. The use of Raspberry Pi as a low cost microcomputer board developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation can be helpful in onsite deployments. The Pi3 model has integrated WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity and also 4 USB ports to expand the device with all kinds of peripheral. Under the premise of offering the power of a computer at low prices, this device is one of the most affordable ways to have a particularly efficient and dynamic hardware accessible at a low price to develop a Wireless Sensor Netwok (WSN). The use of the Raspberry Pi3 permits the development of a power…
A Robust Wrap Reduction Algorithm for Fringe Projection Profilometry and Applications in Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
In this paper, we present an effective algorithm to reduce the number of wraps in a 2D phase signal provided as input. The technique is based on an accurate estimate of the fundamental frequency of a 2D complex signal with the phase given by the input, and the removal of a dependent additive term from the phase map. Unlike existing methods based on the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), the frequency is computed by using noise-robust estimates that are not restricted to integer values. Then, to deal with the problem of a non-integer shift in the frequency domain, an equivalent operation is carried out on the original phase signal. This consists of the subtraction of a tilted plane whose slop…
Adaptive SDN-based architecture using QoE metrics in live video streaming on Cloud Mobile Media
The increasing adoption of smart phones, the increased access to mobile broadband networks and the availability of public cloud infrastructures are aligning to the next generation of truly ubiquitous multimedia services, known as Cloud Mobile Media (CMM) services. Nevertheless, due to an inherit higher and variable end to end delay mainly as a result of the virtualization process, new challenges appear in particular for live video streaming applications in order to keep a good Quality of Experience of the delivered video. Thus, to keep client's satisfaction at good levels in terms of Mean Opinion Score (MOS), we propose an adaptive Software Defined Networking (SDN)-based architecture runnin…
Combinación de cuestionarios simples y gamificados utilizando gestores de participación en el aula: experiencia y percepción del alumnado
[EN] The growing use of mobile devices has motivated the development of a wide range of applications to help manage the students’ participation in the classroom. Socrative allows the lecturer to use multiple-choice questionnaires in the classroom, either in a simple or a gamified mode (Space Race). In this paper, we describe our experience at using this tool to promote competitive learning, at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. The student’s perception indicates that the use of the application helped at increasing engagement and motivation. However, relevant differences were found between both modes of use, underlining the importance of an adequate activity design.
Open-source software tools for measuring resources consumption and DASH metrics
When designing and deploying multimedia systems, it is essential to accurately know about the necessary requirements and the Quality of Service (QoS) offered to the customers. This paper presents two open-source software tools that contribute to these key needs. The first tool is able to measure and register resources consumption metrics for any Windows program (i.e. process id), like the CPU, GPU and RAM usage. Unlike the Task Manager, which requires manual visual inspection for just a subset of these metrics, the developed tool runs on top of the Powershell to periodically measure these metrics, calculate statistics, and register them in log files. The second tool is able to measure QoS m…
Web Tool for Path Analysis in Wireless Sensor Networks to Improve Their Performance
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are based on tiny autonomous devices, usually named motes or nodes, and are used in many monitoring applications, such as environment, habitat, precision horticulture, etc. These motes are power-limited and most energy is wasted through the communication process when exchanging data packets. Because these motes are quite simple, with low power transmission and simple antennas, these networks usually run multihop routing protocols in order to forward packets between one mote to the sink, or the collector node, using the other motes as relaying motes. Basically, these routing protocols try to find out new routes within these wireless network, optimizing differe…
Incorporando dispositivos de radio definida por software en la materia de Comunicaciones Digitales: del grupo piloto a la gran clase
[ES] La innovación educativa es un proceso que se extiende más allá de un curso académico. En su desarrollo se distinguen las etapas de planificación, implementación, evaluación y realimentación, para identificar aspectos susceptibles de mejora. En esta contribución presentamos el trabajo desarrollado en los dos últimos cursos en la asignatura Teoría de la Comunicación (materia de Comunicaciones Digitales), Grado en Ingeniería Telemática, de la Universitat de València. Concretamente, se incorporan dispositivos de radio definida por software en los laboratorios como herramienta para conseguir unas prácticas más realistas. El artículo describe el proceso de adaptación de una sesión de laboratori…
Estimation techniques to measure subjective quality on live video streaming in Cloud Mobile Media services
Abstract The adoption of smart phones, the increased access to mobile broadband networks and the availability of public cloud infrastructures are aligning to the next generation of truly ubiquitous multimedia services, known as Cloud Mobile Media (CMM) services offering mobile video. Nevertheless, due to an inherit higher and variable end to end delay mainly as a result of the virtualization process, new challenges appear. One challenge is given by live video streaming applications when trying to keep a good Quality of Experience of the delivered video, measured in terms of a subjective video quality metric, named Mean Opinion Score (MOS). Our goal is to estimate and predict this subjective…
Do Current Domestic Gigabit Wireless Technologies Fulfill User Requirements for Ultra High Definition Videos?
We present the results from a measurement-based performance evaluation of wireless networks based on IEEE 802.11n and IEEE 802.11ac standards in an indoor environment, with the aim to analyze their performance under high definition streaming video applications. We focus our study on analyzing the highest performance of these standards using off-the-shelf equipment, both with synthetic TCP and UDP traffic to measure the saturation throughput as well as high definition video streams. The measurements have been conducted in the student labs of our university and show good performance for streaming purposes in high definition and also ultra-high definition from a subjective video quality point …
Development of a low-cost IoT system to detect and locate lightning strikes
Lightnings are violent natural phenomena and can generate many expenditures, specially when they strike in urban areas. The identification of the concrete geographic area where they strike is of critical importance for emergency services in order to enhance their effectiveness by doing an intensive coverage of the affected area. To achieve this aim, this paper proposes a design, prototype and validation of a distributed network of Internet of Things (IoT) devices to enable detection and location of lightning strikes. The IoT devices are empowered with lightning detection capabilities and are synchronized with the other devices in the sensor network. All of them cooperate within a network th…
Development of a Low-Cost IoT System for Lightning Strike Detection and Location
Lightning and thunder are some of the most violent natural phenomena. They generate a great deal of expenditure and economic loss, especially when they strike in cities. The identification of the concrete geographic area where they strike is of critical importance for emergency services in order to enhance their effectiveness by doing an intensive coverage of the affected area. To achieve this purpose at the city scale, this paper proposes the design, prototype, and validation of a distributed network of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The IoT devices are empowered with lightning detection capabilities and are synchronized with the other devices in the sensor network. All of them cooperat…