BAROC: Concealing Packet Losses in LSNs with Bimodal Behavior Awareness for Livecast Ingestion

TL;DR

BAROC addresses the challenge of Livecast ingestion over Low-Earth Orbit satellite networks by identifying bimodal network behavior induced by satellite reallocations. It introduces MTP-Informer, a probabilistic, bimodal-aware predictor, and a distribution-convolution video quality scheduler that jointly optimizes CRF, frame rate, and FEC ratio under uplink constraints. The approach yields improved PSNR (average ~1.95 dB, up to 3.44 dB) and better parity packet utilization, while maintaining robust recovery compared to state-of-the-art baselines. The work demonstrates the practical impact of distribution-aware forecasting for real-time video delivery over highly dynamic LSNs and suggests future directions for in-orbit processing to further reduce latency and improve efficiency.

Abstract

The advent of Low-Earth Orbit satellite networks (LSNs), exemplified by initiatives like \emph{Starlink}, \emph{OneWeb} and \emph{Kuiper}, has ushered in a new era of ``Internet from Space" global connectivity. Recent studies have shown that LSNs are capable of providing unprecedented download capacity and low latency to support Livecast viewing. However, Livecast ingestion still faces significant challenges, such as limited uplink capacity, bandwidth degradation, and the burst of packet loss due to frequent satellite reallocations, which cause previous recovery and adaptive solutions to be inferior under this new scenario. In this paper, we conduct an in-depth measurement study dedicated to understanding the implications of satellite reallocations, which reveals that the network status during reallocations with network anomalies exhibits a different distribution, leading to bimodal behaviors on the overall network performance. Motivated by this finding, we propose BAROC, a framework that can effectively conceal burst packet losses by combining a novel proposed MTP-Informer with bimodal behavior awareness during satellite reallocation. BAROC enhances video QoE on the server side by addressing the above challenges and jointly determining the optimal video encoding and recovery parameters. Our extensive evaluation shows that BAROC outperforms other video delivery recovery approaches, achieving an average PSNR improvement of $1.95$ dB and a maximum of $3.44$ dB, along with enhancements in frame rate and parity packet utilization. Additionally, a comprehensive ablation study is conducted to assess the effectiveness of MTP-Informer and components in BAROC.

Figures (11)

• Figure 1: Overview of Livecast ingestion over LSNs and the relevant challenges.
• Figure 2: Performance measurement of Livecast over LSNs.
• Figure 3: The probability distribution of network metrics during reallocation and normal period.
• Figure 4: The overview of BAROC framework.
• Figure 5: The overview of MTP-Informer.