Towards 5G: Joint Optimization of Video Segment Cache, Transcoding and Resource Allocation for Adaptive Video Streaming in a Muti-access Edge Computing Network
This work addresses the challenge of enhancing quality of experience for adaptive video streaming users in 5G networks, representing an incremental improvement by integrating previously uncoordinated factors.
The paper tackles the problem of optimizing video streaming quality in multi-access edge computing networks by jointly managing cache, transcoding, and resource allocation, resulting in improved client throughput, video quality, and hit ratio while reducing rebuffering time and system traffic.
The cache and transcoding of the multi-access edge computing (MEC) server and wireless resource allocation in eNodeB interact and determine the quality of experience (QoE) of dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH) clients in MEC networks. However, the relationship among the three factors has not been explored, which has led to limited improvement in clients' QoE. Therefore, we propose a joint optimization framework of video segment cache and transcoding in MEC servers and resource allocation to improve the QoE of DASH clients. Based on the established framework, we develop a MEC cache management mechanism that consists of the MEC cache partition, video segment deletion, and MEC cache space transfer. Then, a joint optimization algorithm that combines video segment cache and transcoding in the MEC server and resource allocation is proposed. In the algorithm, the clients' channel state and the playback status and cooperation among MEC servers are employed to estimate the client's priority, video segment presentation switch and continuous playback time. Considering the above four factors, we develop a utility function model of clients' QoE. Then, we formulate a mixed-integer nonlinear programming mathematical model to maximize the total utility of DASH clients, where the video segment cache and transcoding strategy and resource allocation strategy are jointly optimized. To solve this problem, we propose a low-complexity heuristic algorithm that decomposes the original problem into multiple subproblems. The simulation results show that our proposed algorithms efficiently improve client's throughput, received video quality and hit ratio of video segments while decreasing the playback rebuffering time, video segment presentation switch and system backhaul traffic.