Implementation Experience of a Prototype for Video Streaming over Wireless Mesh Networks

Streaming video over wireless mesh networks is an attractive and challenging technology. It is important to select an appropriate metric in the routing algorithm to improve the video delivery quality. In this paper, we report the design, implementation, and evaluation of a prototype for video streaming over a wireless mesh network. In order to select the best path dynamically to improve the multimedia performance, Ad Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol is enhanced with a new radio and bandwidth aware routing metric, better route request/reply message process rules and periodic route refreshment and maintenance. A metric quantization method is also proposed to maintain the route stability while achieving quick response to the network dynamics. In addition, we implemented a proxy function in the mesh access point so that the stations can access the mesh through the access point without any modification to themselves. Using the prototype, we prove the concept that our approach can significantly improve the video quality over the traditional AODV routing protocol in a real system implementation.