Enhancing Video Conference Applications with <scp>VCApather</scp> : A Network as a Service Perspective

The provision of performance-aware video conferencing services today relies on approaches that focus on data compression and client-side bitrate adaptation techniques to optimize transmission. However, these methods fail to quickly respond to fluctuations in network conditions, thereby compromising the quality of service for transmissions. For this reason, this article aims to propose a novel traffic scheduling-based video transmission optimization solution from the perspective of the network service provider. We first investigate the resource requirements of video conferences and present the experiential performance of video conferences under different network conditions and network competition. Based on these results, we design a service-customized routing mechanism called VCApather that minimizes network contention. We then provide implementation solutions for the control plane and the data plane of VCApather . We evaluate VCApather using a fully meshed topology with five nodes and real-world video conference traffic. The results show that VCApather is capable of achieving high link utilization and balance, while also meeting predefined user metrics. Compared to other schemes, VCApather could satisfy 69.8% more QoE requirements and yielded an average bitrate improvement of 1.74 \(\times\) .