Streaming Media Systems Group

Research Topics

The Streaming Media Systems Group's research focus is on media communication and services over current and next-generation networks.  Current research topics include video communications over wired and wireless packet networks (e.g., Internet, WLAN, 3G and 3.5G networks); media-aware networking and network-aware media streaming; infrastructure-based streaming media overlay networks; infrastructure-free peer-to-peer networks; audio processing and multi-channel echo cancellation; high-quality video conferencing; secure media streaming and secure transcoding; and video services in mobile social networking.

• Streaming media system architectures, designs, and operation
• Infrastructure-based streaming media overlay networks
• Infrastructures to enhance media delivery
• Streaming media content delivery networks (SM-CDNs)
• Peer-to-peer media streaming systems
• Mobile streaming media systems:
• Mid-network media transcoding to support mobile clients
• Adaptive streaming considering real-time client movements (handoffs, time-varying bandwidths)
• Design of media resource function (MRF) in IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) for 3GPP compliant streaming over 3G and 3.5G wireless networks
• Media caching in a distributed infrastructure
• Mid-network media content services
• QoS-aware media streaming
• Video communications over wired and wireless packet networks
• Adaptive streaming for time-varying channels
• Reliable delivery through techniques such as multiple description coding, path diversity, media-aware FEC
• Low-latency video broadcast in peer-to-peer systems
• Video communication over 802.11 networks using path diversity
• Video delivery over 3.5G and 4G networks (e.g., EV-DO, HSDPA)
• Rich-media collaboration
• User experience
• Experience-driven design for next-generation media systems
• High-quality video conferencing
• Mobile social video networking
• Video podcasting
• Portable multimedia devices (video-enabled iPAQs)
• Compelling mobile media services
• Secure media streaming and secure transcoding
• Secure scalable streaming
• Secure transcoding
• Secure adaptive streaming
• JPEG-2000 Security (JPSEC) standard
• Audio communications:
• Audio coding and communications over IP networks
• Single-channel echo cancellation
• Multiple-channel echo cancellation
• Techniques for improving audio in high-quality controlled settings and in uncontrolled settings with mobile devices
• Media compression and signal processing
• Supporting compressed data as first-grade data type (so that it can be manipulated/processed/retrieved as easily as regular data types such as text, numbers, databases)
• Image, audio, video codec technologies
• Processing of compressed data
• Analysis of compressed data
• Standard-compatible enhancements (MPEG-2, H.263, H.264) for compression, error resilience, logo-insertion, etc.
• Efficient algorithms for processing compressed data (compressed-domain signal processing)
• Mathematical foundations
• Information theory
• Learning theory
• Signal processing theory

Examples of Prior Significant SMSG Research Efforts

• HPL / NTT DoCoMo research collaboration on 4G Mobile Streaming Media Content Delivery Networks: Collaborating with NTT DoCoMo on 4G mobile streaming media network infrastructure technologies. The goal of the collaboration is to develop technologies and API’s for mobile streaming media CDNs for 4G wireless networks by combining DoCoMo’s experience as a leading wireless network service provider and HP’s experience in computing, networking, and storage; and both companies’ expertise in streaming media. Specifically exploiting SMSG's diverse team of researchers with expertise in streaming media, networking, and server and applicance architecture.
• HP/MIT Wireless Networking Invent Center: Leading an interdisciplinary, multi-year research collaboration between HP and MIT in Wireless Networking for Mobile Appliances. The goal is to create breakthroughs in next-generation wireless networking through research topics that focus on interlayer optimization technologies between the physical, network, and application layers while exploiting deep expertise in wireless communications, hybrid wired/wireless networking, signal processing, information theory, and low-power appliance design. Interestingly, a goal of this project is to create a virtual center for MIT’s wireless networking activities that span different MIT labs. In addition to providing a collaboration opportunity between HP and MIT, a rich and unique collaboration opportunity is created between MIT professors and students in different labs.
• Digital television technologies: Logo insertion,  video splicing (for ad insertion), and reverse play

For further information please see the Streaming Media Systems Group publications.