DEVELOPING AN OPTIMAL 360-DEGREE VIDEO STREAMING SYSTEM USING MULTICASTING FOR IMPROVED QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE

The growing popularity of 360-degree video content has ushered in new opportunities for immersive multimedia experiences, enabling users to explore visual content from any perspective. However, the substantial bandwidth requirements for transmitting such content, especially over mobile networks, pose significant challenges. Current streaming techniques often fail to efficiently manage the increased data load, particularly when multiple users are engaged simultaneously. In this thesis, we propose a novel multicast-based approach to optimize the transmission of 360-degree video. By leveraging tiling techniques, our system divides video into segments corresponding to a user’s Field of View (FoV). Only the relevant FoV tiles are streamed at the highest quality, while other areas are transmitted at lower resolutions, reducing unnecessary band width consumption. Additionally, our multicast strategy groups users with similar viewing patterns to share common video tiles, further improving bandwidth efficiency without compromising the Quality of Experience (QoE). The proposed system is designed to adapt dynamically to user behavior and network conditions, utilizing a linear optimization model to intelligently select and multicast tiles. We evaluate our approach using real-world user data and various network conditions. Experimental results demonstrate significant reductions in bandwidth usage while maintaining superior video quality, as measured by Video Multi-Method Assessment Fusion (VMAF) scores. This thesis offers a scalable solution for bandwidth-efficient 360-degree video streaming, opening the door to more accessible immersive media experiences, especially in bandwidth-constrained environments. Future work includes exploring hybrid approaches and expanding the system’s implementation to wireless networks.