Anatomy of a Network Connection – Web and OTT cases

Authors: Manuel de Oliveira Duarte

Richard Soares
Date: 31.March.2021

Index
1. OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................... 4
2. WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL STEPS INVOLVED IN A CONNECTION TO A WEB SITE? ......................... 4
2.1 TRACING A CONNECTION USING THE “TRACERT” TOOL ............................................................................. 4
2.2 A POSSIBLE INTERPRETATION INTO SOME DETAIL..................................................................................... 5
2.3 ABOUT THE CONCEPT OF “MY IP ADDRESS” ......................................................................................... 7
2.4 WEB PAGE CONNECTION: RESOURCES, PROTOCOLS AND MECHANISMS ..................................................... 9
2.4.1 Web Browser .......................................................................................................................... 9
2.4.2 DNS ......................................................................................................................................... 9
2.4.3 TCP ........................................................................................................................................ 10
2.4.4 HTTP...................................................................................................................................... 10
3. HOW AN OTT VIDEO CONNECTION WORKS ................................................................................. 12
3.1 HTTP LIVE STREAMING CASE (HLS) .................................................................................................. 12
3.2 RTMP CASE ................................................................................................................................. 14
3.2.1 Method of playing a RTMP Video ......................................................................................... 14
3.2.1.1 Handshake .................................................................................................................................. 15
3.2.1.2 Create Connection...................................................................................................................... 15
3.2.1.3 Create Stream ............................................................................................................................ 16
3.2.1.4 Play ............................................................................................................................................. 16
3.3 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF HTTP VS RTMP ...................................................................... 16
4. ACCESS NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES .............................................................................................. 18
4.1 XDSL (XDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINES) .................................................................................................. 18
4.1.1 OTT over ADSL ...................................................................................................................... 19
4.2 FIBER TO THE X (FTTX) .................................................................................................................. 20
4.2.1 OTT over FTTH ...................................................................................................................... 20
4.3 HFC ............................................................................................................................................ 21
4.3.1 OTT over HFC ........................................................................................................................ 22
4.4 MOBILE NETWORKS ....................................................................................................................... 23
4.4.1 GSM ...................................................................................................................................... 23
4.4.1.1 GPRS ........................................................................................................................................... 23
4.4.2 UMTS .................................................................................................................................... 23
4.4.2.1 HSPA ........................................................................................................................................... 23
4.4.3 LTE ........................................................................................................................................ 23
4.4.3.1 OTT over LTE .............................................................................................................................. 24
4.4.4 WiMAX .................................................................................................................................. 25
4.4.5 Wi-Fi...................................................................................................................................... 25
4.5 IPTV ........................................................................................................................................... 26
4.5.1 IPTV Distribution over ADSL and FTTH Networks.................................................................. 27
4.5.2 IPTV vs. OTT .......................................................................................................................... 28
5. REFERÊNCIAS ............................................................................................................................... 29
6. USEFUL WEB LINKS: ..................................................................................................................... 29

Page 1
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

2G, 3G, 4G, 5G Some generations of celular technologies

CATV Comunity Antena Television
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
CDN Content Delivery Network
CM Cable Modem
CMTS Cable Modem Termination System
CPE Customer Premises equipment
DNS Domain Name System
DOCSIS Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification.
DOCSIS specifies methods for transporting data over CATV networks

DSLAM Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer

DTT Digital Terrestrial Television
DWDM Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing
E-UTRAN Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Network
FCCN Fundação para o Cálculo Científico Nacional
FTTx This is a generic expression to describe different fiber optics based telecommunication networks.
Depending on the termination point of the fiber optics, these architectures have various
designations: FTTN (Fiber To The Node), FTTCab (Fiber To The Cabinet), FTTC (Fiber to The
Curb), FTTP (Fiber To The Premises), FTTB (Fiber To The Building), e FTTH (Fiber To The Home).
GE Gigabit Ethernet
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GSM Global Systems for Mobile Communications
HD / SD High Definition / Standard Definition (video) signals
HFC Hybrid Fiber-Coax
HLS HTTP Live Streaming
HSDPA High Speed Downlink Packet Access
HSPA High-Speed Packet Access
HSUPA High Speed Uplink Packet Access
HTML HyperText Markup Language
HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol
ICMP Internet Control Message Protocol
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IP Internet Protocol
IPTV Internet Protocol Television
ISO International Standards Organization
ISP Internet Service Provider
ITU International Telecommunications Union
LTE Long Term Evolution
m3u Computer file format for multimedia playlists
MIMO Multiple-Input Multiple-Output

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MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group.
This is one of ISO/IEC - International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical
Commission - study groups responsible for the production of standards for video compression and
transmission; some of its work also applies to audio)

NFSI NFSI - Soluções Internet, Lda (ISP company)

NGN Next-Generation Networks
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
ONT Optical Network Termination
OSI Open System Interconnection
OTN Optical Transport Network
OTT Over the Top
POTS Plain Old Telephone Service
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
QoS Quality of Service
QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keeing
RCTS Rede Ciência, Tecnolgia e Sociedade
REFER Abbreviation of "Rede Ferroviária". Is is the name of the company that is responsible for the railways
infrastructure in Portugal. It also has deployed telecommunications cables and equipment alongside
its infrastructures.
RF Radio Frequency
RNC Radio Network Controller
RTMP Real-Time Messaging Protocol
SDH Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
SIP Session Initiation Protocol
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio
SONET Synchronous Optical Network(ing)
TCP Transmission Control Protocol
TTL Time to Live
UDP User Datagram Protocol
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems
URL Uniform Resource Locator
W-CDMA Wide-band Code-Division Multiple Access
WiFi This neither an acronym nor an abbreviation. It is coined from “Wireless Fidelity and refers to IEEE
802.11b wireless networking standard/technology

WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

WLAN Wireless local area network
WWW World Wide Web
xDSL There are various DSL technologies such as:
- ADSL: Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
- SDSL: Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line
- VDSL (VHDSL): Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line
- HDSL: High Speed Digital Subscriber Line

Page 3
1. Objectives

The objective of this document is to provide a basic understanding of the processes, technologies and
agents involved when a connection is established between a user and a telecommunications network.
Two service cases are considered:
a) A web connection.
b) An OTT 1 (over the top) connection.

2. What are the Essential Steps Involved in a Connection to a Web Site?

To answer this question the following procedures will be used:

a) The connection will be made to a specific web site. At the time of writing the initial version of this
document that site was the following: www.oceanario.pt. 2
b) A diagnostic tool will be used, Traceroute 3, that identifies the route hops followed by the connection
and measures transit delays of packets across IP networks,.

2.1 Tracing a connection using the “tracert” tool

Traceroute tool uses Internet Control Message Protocol – (ICMP) messages and relies on a function called
TTL – (Time to Live) in the header of this Layer 3 protocol. ICMP operates between two hosts at Layer 3
(Network) level of the OSI model.
The usage of traceroute in the present case yields the following results:

Figure 1: traceroute results

1 OTT stands for “over the top” and is a designation used whenever a provider delivers a service or product to users resorting to
the infrastructures of third parties without their consent or active cooperation.
2 It should be pointed out that the networking conditions found at the time of producing the original version of this document may
be different from the conditions found at a later date and, for that reason, some of the network information presented ahead
might be different
3 In Microsoft Windows "tracert" general syntax is as follows:
tracert [-d] [-h MaximumHops] [-j HostList] [-w Timeout] [TargetName]
For additional explanations refer to:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb491018.aspx
For information about how to use the equivalent to “traceroute” in MacOS and Linux see:
https://www.siteground.com/kb/how_to_perform_traceroute_checks_in_windows_linux_and_macos/

Page 4
2.2 A possible interpretation into some detail
The results of the above traceroute can have a possible interpretation 4 as shown in the following table:

Hop Device or Media Local Network/Operator/Owner Technologies/Protocols OSI layer

Personal Computer UA Ethernet Network / 7 -
05 GSBL UA HTTP
(193.136.82.48) STIC / Aveiro University Application
6 -
Presentation
Port: XXXX 5 - Session
TCP 4 - Transport
IPv4 3 - Network
Ethernet-IEEE802.3 or
2 - Data Link
WiFI-IEEE802.11x
UTP (Ethernet) or
1 - Physical
Free-Space Radio
TRANSPORT UA Free-Space radio (Public Domain Unlicensed) and/or UTP (Ethernet)
Router UA Ethernet Network /
1 DETI UA IPv4 3 - Network
(193.136.82.254) STIC / Aveiro University
Fast Ethernet
2 - Data Link
(802.2; 802.3)
100BASE-T (802.3) 1 - Physical
TRANSPORT UA OPTICAL FIBRE Campus Backbone (Gigabit Ethernet)
Router UA Ethernet Network /
2 STIC UA IPv4 3 - Network
(192.168.255.253) STIC / Aveiro University
Gigabit Ethernet
2 - Data Link
(IEEE 802.3-2008)
Gigabit Ethernet
1 - Physical
(IEEE 802.3-2008)
TRANSPORT AVEIRO OPTICAL FIBRE Backhall (Gigabit Ethernet)
Estação
Router
3 Refer RCTS IP / FCCN /REFER IPv4 3 - Network
(193.136.4.26)
Aveiro
PPP (?) 2 - Data Link
GE, OTN, SDH, SONET,
1 - Physical
etc
Linha do
TRANSPORT OPTICAL FIBRE FCCN Backbone (40λX40GB / DWDM)
Norte
Estação
Router Campanhã
4 Campanhã RCTS IP / FCCN / FCCN IPv4 3 - Network
(193.136.4.26)
Porto
Ethernet (?) 2 - Data Link
GE, OTN, SDH, SONET,
1 - Physical
etc
UTP/Optical Fibre In-building cabling
TRANSPORT Porto
(Ethernet / GigaBit Ethernet)
Aggregator Router
5 Porto Porto RCTS IP / FCCN / FCCN IPv4 3 - Network
(193.137.4.25)
10 Gigabit Ethernet 2 - Data Link
10GBASE
1 - Physical
(IEEE 802.3aX)
UTP/Optical Fibre In-building cabling
TRANSPORT Porto
(Ethernet / GigaBit Ethernet)
Gigapix Router
6 Porto GigaPix / FCCN / FCCN IPv4 3 - Network
(193.136.251.112)
10 Gigabit Ethernet 2 - Data Link
10GBASE
1 - Physical
(IEEE 802.3aX)

4 The contents of some of the columns, namely the column “Technologies/Protocols”, are just possible
interpretations of the (scarce) information provided by the tracert results. Others could also be possible.
5 In fact this Hop does not come from the traceroute results. It was introduced just as additional interpretation.

Page 5
 OPTICAL FIBRE
TRANSPORT Porto
Comercial Carrier Backbone (nλXmGB / DWDM)
NFSI Router
7 Porto NFSI / NFSI /NFSI IPv4 3 - Network
(94.46.143.1)
Ethernet (?) 2 - Data Link
10GBASE
1 - Physical
(IEEE 802.3aX)
A1 or Linha OPTICAL FIBRE
TRANSPORT
do Norte Comercial Carrier Backbone (nλXmGB / DWDM)
NFSI Router
8 Lisbon NFSI / NFSI / NFSI IPv4 3 - Network
(81.92.223.185)
10 Gigabit Ethernet 2 - Data Link
GE, OTN, SDH, SONET,
1 - Physical
etc
UTP/Optical Fibre In-building cabling
TRANSPORT Lisbon
(Ethernet / GigaBit Ethernet)
NFSI Router
9 Lisbon NFSI / NFSI / NFSI IPv4 3 - Network
(81.92.201.6)
10 Gigabit Ethernet 2 - Data Link
10GBASE
1 - Physical
(IEEE 802.3aX)
UTP/Optical Fibre In-building cabling
TRANSPORT Lisbon
(Ethernet / GigaBit Ethernet)
Waynext Server 7 -
10 Lisbon Waynext / NFSI / NFSI HTTP
(81.92.221.193) Application
6 -
Presentation
Port: 80 5 - Session
TCP 4 - Transport
IPv4 3 - Network
Fast Ethernet 2 - Data Link
10GBASE
1 - Physical
(IEEE 802.3aX)

Table 1: Details of traceroute interpretation

The information from the table can also be used to construct the following scheme, revealing aspects of the
possible network structure involved in the connection:

Figure 2: Possible network structure of the connection associated with in the traceroute results

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2.3 About the Concept of “My IP Address”

It is important to distinguish between two possible meanings for the expression “My IP Address”. In fact, this
expression can have two meanings.

Consider the situation illustrated in the following figure where a certain user has been assigned to one of
the internal machines, for example, the one called “My computer”:

Figure 3: Different types of IP address (internal and external or publica and private)
https://stevessmarthomeguide.com/internal-external-ip-addresses/

The External (or Public) IP Address is the IP address that is assigned to the external port of the router that
is used to interface with the (public) Internet. This address is assigned to a user by its Internet Service
Provider (ISP) and is usually not permanent. It is assigned (or “lent”) at the beginning of an Internet session
and stays active for a little more time than the duration of that section. Afterwards it is withdrawn. If a user
needs to have a permanent External (Public) IP address there are specific tariffs for that.

The Internal (or Private) IP Address is the IP address that is assigned to the equipment located inside the
private network (PC, smartphone, printer, etc). This assignment is made by the router used to interface the
private network with the (public) Internet.

There are various ways of finding the External and Internal IP addresses as explained in detail in:
https://www.howtogeek.com/117371/how-to-find-your-computers-private-public-ip-addresses/

Two of them are the following:

Internal IP:
C:\Users\duarte>ipconfig
Windows IP Configuration
…
Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : lan
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:8a0:f79b:4a01:895c:ddee:1e86:6397
Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . : 2001:8a0:f79b:4a01:e015:d826:6ef2:2272
(This is the temporary External IP in IPv6 format)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::895c:ddee:1e86:6397%34
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.95
(This is the Internal IP)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : fe80::a6b1:e9ff:fe9f:f41%34
192.168.1.254

Page 7
External IP:
This information can be found trough the administration page of the router that is used to interface with the
(public) Internet. For the example depicted in the above figure this administration page can be accessed
using the Default Gateway address:192.168.1.254. For the case of MEO Technicolor TG784n v3 router it
has the following aspect:

There are also some sites that provide this information, for example: https://whatismyipaddress.com/

Page 8
2.4 Web Page Connection: Resources, Protocols and Mechanisms
In a previous section a possible interpretation concerning the different technologies and actors involved in
the connection to a specific web site: www.oceanario.pt was presented. Here we look at some of the involved
resources, protocols and mechanisms.

2.4.1 Web Browser

Opening a web page is usually the first step involved in accessing the World Wide Web (hereafter designated
simply as the web) and gaining access to a large variety of information resources (documents, images,
videos, etc) located in computers throughout the world.

In order to access a web page, a user opens a web browser. A web browser is a piece of software capable
of retrieving and presenting information resources originating in different locations of the web. A browser
also has the ability to travel across these locations looking for the desired information as determined by
appropriate addresses in the form of URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). The typical format of an URL is as
follows:

• http://www.example.com/index.html:

Where:
• http: designates the protocol to be used in establishing the connection with the information
resource under consideration. In the present case, it is HyperText Markup Language (http) that
inserts links to other documents.
• www.example.comm: is the host name.
• index.html: is the name of the file to be accessed in the host.

In spite of browsers being mainly intended to be used with the World Wide Web, they can also be used as
access mechanisms in private networks (e.g.: LANs or VPNs) and file systems.

2.4.2 DNS

To find the information associated with a certain URL, the user opens a browser and inserts that URL into
the browser search engine window:

Figure 4: Using a search engine

The browser must then convert that URL (which usually is expressed as an easily intelligible name, eg:
www.oceanario.pt) into a numerical internet protocol (IP) address that uniquely identifies and locates
computer services and devices across the web. This is done by sending a query to its local name server,
the Domain Name System (DNS).

The search engine returns several results and one of them seems to correspond to the target destination:

Page 9
 Figure 5: Using a search engine

The following diagram illustrates what has been said:

Figure 6: DNS illustration (https://s.hswstatic.com/gif/dns-rev-1.gif)

2.4.3 TCP

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) involves some of the fundamental mechanisms of the Internet protocol
suite.
Its main functionality is to ensure that all received bytes at one end of a communication system are identical
to the bytes that are sent from the other end and are in the correct order. This involves following aspects:
a) Data handling and processing (streams, segments and sequence numbers)
b) Data transport, reliability and flow control
c) Management of ports, connections and connection identification
In approximate terms, it can be considered as being located at the level of the transport layer of the OSI
model.
Detailed explanations of TCP can be found in [2, 3].

2.4.4 HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer network protocol built on top of TCP. HTTP
functioning is illustrated in Figure 7.

Page 10
 Figure 7: HTTP illustration (1)
https://www.slideshare.net/davidmichaelwallace/lecture-the-dynamic-web-2013

By default, HTTP uses TCP port 80. Other ports such as 8080 can also be used.

The three main HTTP message types are GET, POST, and HEAD.

Example:

Figure 6: HTTP illustration (2)

In this example, a web browser running a client version of HTTP issues a request specifying the URL
www.oceanario.pt to access a web page. On the other side, the machine that receives the request, is running
a server version of HTTP and reacts to the HTTP request by sending an HTTP response which contains the
desired document in the appropriate format.
When the information transaction is done, the TCP connection is closed and the user may view the document
or the HTML page he asked for.

In brief:

• HTTP assumes messages can be exchanged directly between HTTP client and HTTP server.
• In fact, HTTP client and server are processes running in two different machines across the Internet.
• HTTP uses the reliable stream transfer service provided by TCP.

Page 11
3. How an OTT Video connection works

When attempting to stream video in an un-managed network, routers, firewalls and ports involved in this
connection are a priori unknown and might be configured in such as to prevent (or, at least, not facilitate)
the flow of those streams. One way of overcoming these difficulties is by using the HTTP protocol for
communication. HTTP uses port 80 for requests. Requests to this port are most likely allowed through any
firewall or router as they are used for all web surfing.
Nowadays, several OTT streaming solutions use HTTP for signaling and data delivery.

3.1 HTTP Live Streaming Case (HLS)

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a protocol used to deliver webpages and images across the Internet
worldwide. HTTP is an adopted, open standard — the most ubiquitous mode of delivery online.
Concerning the delivery of OTT services, the technique commonly used consist in fragmenting a continuous
stream into segments, encode these segments and make these available for download using plain HTTP
methods. This is known as dynamic adaptive segment streaming over HTTP and is the enabler for deployed
web infrastructure to be easily reused for live streaming.
HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) is based on the HTTP protocol and doesn’t requires any streaming server
because it can use an existing HTTP server, so all the switching logic resides on the player [1].
The video source is encoded into multiple files at different data rates and divided into chunks (file segments)
usually with 10 seconds, but they can be between 2 to 10 seconds long, formatted as MPEG-2 transport
stream. These chunks are loaded onto a HTTP server along with the text-based manifest file with the .m3u8
extension. This file directs the player to additional manifest files for each of the encoded streams. Switching
bit rates on the fly is therefore not possible in the middle of an HTTP transaction, it is why the video is sliced
up into “chunks”[2].
(1)

Request Video

(2)

.m3u8 playlist

Video Chunk 1

Video Chunk 2

Video Chunk ...

Figure 8 – Example of OTT video connection

When the client starts the player, he asks for the stream or video he wants to access in the server (Figure
8, (1)), answering this request the server sends a file with the .m3u8 extension, here called .m3u8 playlist
(Figure 8, (2)). While parsing the playlist, the client learns about available bandwidths, media types,
maximum media segment duration, information about if the stream is bounded or not, if there is alternative
renditions of the same content or any other relevant information are also included in this file.

Page 12
 Figure 9 – HLS subsystem logic overview[1]

The chunk sizes are such that the reference IFrame at the beginning of each chunk is synchronized.
The delivery server can host several different bit rate encodings of the same video content. Each bit rate
encoding has a separate play list, which is defined by a master playlist. These playlists are typically in an
M3U8 format and contain the list of chunks in order. When the client detects either insufficient bandwidth or
more available bandwidth, it can switch to either the lower or higher bit rate playlist and download the chunks
in that list. Since each chunk is synchronized with the other bit rate streams, there is a seamless transition
between them so that the video playback is not interrupted. This maintains a high quality user experience.

Figure 10 – Manifest Structure[1]

In HTTP segment streaming, the client has the responsibility to download the next segment before the
previous segment, based on this information the client starts fetching the segments over HTTP GET request
and starts streaming the content.
This solution is based on HTTP requests/responses at the level of one video fragment for each
request/response, the client sends an HTTP request for a specific video fragment and receives the fragment
via an HTTP response from the server. It is important to note that the server can send out a response only
when an entire fragment has been published, as seen in Figure 11.

Page 13
 Figure 11 – Example of a fragment-based HTTP live video streaming.
The live latency is at least 1 to 2 fragment durations.[3]

Bandwidth consistency is a major issue. If a user is watching a video and someone else on the same network
suddenly decides to perform a file transfer, the available bandwidth for the video can be severely impacted.
In order to maintain a good Quality of Experience, content therefore needs to be encoded at different bit
rates and the delivery protocol needs to be able to dynamically switch the bit rate with no interruption in
playback or action by the user.
Since it is an HTTP connection, the data should pass through the same network path, and different network
protocols, in the different layers, than for the webpage example described above.

3.2 RTMP Case

Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) refers to the proprietary protocol developed by Adobe Systems for
streaming audio, video, and data over the Internet between a Flash player and a Flash Media Server.
RTMP belongs to the application-level protocol, and runs over TCP as transport-level protocol.
The basic unit of the RTMP to transmit information is Message. During transmission, for consideration of
multiplexing and packetizing multimedia streams, each Message will be split into some Chunks.
In the process of playing a streaming media, the client can send Command Message such as “connect”,
“createStream”, “play”, “pause” to control the playback of streaming media.
Message need to be split into a number of Chunks when it transmits data in the network. Chunk provides
multiplexing and packetizing services for a higher-level multimedia stream protocol. RTMP Chunk Stream
Protocol prescribes that the Payload of each Message is divided into fixed-size Chunks (except the last
one).
Playing a RTMP-based streaming media, under normal circumstances, need to use the Flash application
as client. User can use ready-made Flash web player to play streaming media.

3.2.1 Method of playing a RTMP Video

A RTMP-based video streaming need to go through the following steps: Handshake, Create Connection,
Create Stream, and Play. Outlining the steps we have:

• The Handshake initiates the connection;

• Then the Create Connection step is used to establish the NetConnection between the client and
server;
• The following stage is used to establish the NetStream between the client and server, called Create
Stream;
• Play stage is used to transmit video and audio data.

Page 14
3.2.1.1 Handshake

Figure 12 – Handshake [4]

1. The client sends C0, C1 block. Server receives the C0 or C1 and then sends S0 and S1.
2. When receiving all the S0 and S1, the client starts sending C2. When receiving all the C0 and C1,
the server starts sending S2.
3. When the client received S2 and the server received C2, the Handshake is complete.

3.2.1.2 Create Connection

Figure 13 – Create Connection [5]

1. The client sends a Command Message "connect" to the server to establish a NetConnection with
a server application instance.
2. After receiving the “connect” Command Message, the server sends the Message “Window
Acknowledgement Size” to the client, and connect to the application mentioned in the Command
Message.
3. The server sends the Message “Set Peer Bandwidth” to the client to update the output bandwidth.
4. After dealing with the set bandwidth Message, the client sends the Message “Window
Acknowledgement Size” to the server.
5. The server sends the User Control Message “Stream Begin” to the client.
6. The server sends Command Message "_results" to notify the client the result of the Command.

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3.2.1.3 Create Stream

Figure 14 – Create Stream [5]

1. The client sends a Command Message “createStream” to the server to request to establish a
NetStream with a server application instance.
2. The server sends Command Message "_results" to notify the client the result of the Command.

3.2.1.4 Play

Figure 15 – Play [5]

1. The client sends the Command Message “play” to the server.

2. On receiving the “play” Command Message, the server sends “Set Chunk Size” Message to notify
the client the chunk size used in the stream.
3. The server sends User control Message “StreamBegin” to inform the client that the stream has
become functional.
4. The server sends Command Message “NetStream.Play. Start” and “NetStream.Play.reset” to notify
the client the “play” Command is successful.
5. After this, the server sends audio and video data ,which the client plays.

3.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of HTTP vs RTMP

HTTP is less likely to be disallowed by routers, Network Address Translation (NAT), or firewall settings, this
protocol uses the port 80 to communicate that is commonly open, so there’s no need to open other ports,
because of this fact the content can be distributed to the client in more locations and without any special
settings.

Page 16
This protocol is also supported by more CDNs, a factor that can affect cost in large distribution models. In
general, more available hardware and software works unmodified and as intended with HTTP than with
RTSP or RTMP. Additionally, for large-scale events, HTTP natively and easily supports mirroring and edge
caching, providing for massive-scale expansion when needed for the largest events. In the other hand RTMP
can also be cached, but HTTP does so natively and without the need for proprietary or custom
configurations.

Another advantage of HTTP is access. Some networks use firewalls to block specific content, the most
popular methods to do so are protocol and port restrictions. Some firewall rules allow only HTTP content
served over port 80, as said before. However, the default port for RTMP connections is 1935, a port that
may not be allowed on tight firewalls. If the first attempt of the Flash Player to play video over port 1935 fails,
it tries to reconnect using a few different methods. To summarize, HTTP streaming should be used to avoid
dealing with firewalls and proxies.

One benefit with RTMP worth mentioning here is its ability to provide multicast support. If you manage your
own network and want to deliver streams to many users without initiating a new connection for each user,
RTMP is the best technology. HTTP does not provide this function, nor do CDNs.

Page 17
4. Access Network Technologies
4.1 xDSL (xDigital Subscriber Lines)
xDSL technologies (where “x” stands for several possible initials as, for example, ADSL, for Asymmetrical
Digital Subscriber Line, “V” for Very, etc ) appeared as an attempt to extend the capabilities of existing
copper infrastructure inherited from the (plain) old telephone service (usually referred by its acronym:
POTS).

Figure 16 – xDSL Access Network [26]

The POTS network has been optimized to transmit signals in the range between 300 Hz and 3400 Hz (voice
signals This bandwidth limitation (which was mainly imposed by the hybrid transformer and the coupling
capacitors used to convert 2 into 4 circuits in telephone circuits, as illustrated by Figure 17) imposed great
constraints on data transmission throughput.

Figure 17 – Hybrid Transformer [26]

For a few decades dial-up modems were used to transform data signals into signals that occupied the same
bandwidth of voice signals but the attainable data rates were only a few tens of kilobits per second (kbps).

To overcome the above problem of bandwidth in telephone networks, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)
technologies have emerged.

These technologies resort to frequency multiplexing of voice and data signals, as shown in Figure 18, taking
advantage of the upper portion of the frequency spectrum that remained unused to transmit the data signals
in that range.

Page 18
 Figure 18 – ADSL Frequency Spectrum (picture in public domain)

The transmission rates attainable in this type of connections depends on the distance between the end user
and the DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer) as illustrated in Figure 19

Figure 19 – Transmission rate (Mbps) versus distance (Km) of the client to the DSLAM (picture in public domain)

4.1.1 OTT over ADSL

In the Figure 20 – Transmission scheme of OTT content over ADSL, it’s represented how an OTT stream
based on HTTP protocols, e.g. HTTP Live Streaming, is transmitted through an ADSL Network.
The scheme represents the end-to-end transmission since the video server until the clients’ device. This
transmission can be done using the network of one or multiple operators, (Tier 2 operators) that will do the
connection between the data center and the core network by (Tier 1 operators).
The OTT service is received by the end user through HTTP based streams. All the HTTP streams are
received by the ADSL Router owned by the client and routed to the CPE where the client wants to use the
service. This final step in the delivery can be done through Ethernet or Wi-Fi access network.

Page 19
 ADSL
Access
Head End Data Center Agregation Network Core Network Client Network
Network

DPT
ETHERNET STB
DECODER

MPEG-4
ENCODER
WDM SDH WDM
ADSL
Modem
Router WIFI

Router
IGMP Router z
OTT Server ATM Switch
Client PC

7 - Application HTTP HTTP

6 - Presentation

5 - Session PORT: XXXX PORT: XXXX

4 - Transport TCP TCP

3 - Network IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4
GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet
2 - Data Link (IEEE 802.3-2008) (IEEE 802.3-2008)
10 Gigabit Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet ATM VC ATM VC Fast Ethernet
GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet 10GBASE 10GBASE
1 - Physical (IEEE 802.3aX) (IEEE 802.3aX)
SONET / SDH SONET / SDH DSL ATM25 100BASE-T
(IEEE 802.3-2008) (IEEE 802.3-2008)

ENTITY OTT Operator Telecom Operator 1 Telecom Operator 2 Client Network

Figure 20 – Transmission scheme of OTT content over ADSL

4.2 Fiber To The X (FTTx)

Fiber To The X (FTTx) is a generic expression to describe different fiber optics based telecommunication
networks. Depending on the termination point of the fiber optics, these architectures have various
designations: FTTN (Fiber To The Node), FTTCab (Fiber To The Cabinet), FTTC (Fiber to The Curb), FTTP
(Fiber To The Premises), FTTB (Fiber To The Building), e FTTH (Fiber To The Home).
• Fiber to the node (FTTN) or Fiber to the Cabinet (FTTCab), refers to a network architecture in
which fiber is extended to a street-side or on-pole cabinet. These points are at a distance of
approximately between 300m and 1500m from the user. From that point forward, xDSL technology
or Ethernet (over copper or wireless) are used to reach the user. These architectures are suitable
for small dimensions areas and low population density.
• Fiber to the curb (FTTC) is a network architecture where the optical fiber goes until a street cabinet,
serving very small areas (about 300m radius) and low population density. Users connect through
the existing infrastructure of copper or coaxial cables. This architecture differs from the FTTx
architectures, since the cabinet street is nearer to the residence of the customer, while the FTTN
architectures or FTTCab, the street cabinet is far away from the customer residence.
• Fiber to the building (FTTB), in this architecture the optical fiber reaches up to the entrance of the
building, but it doesn’t arrive directly to the users home. The connection to the end user is not made
using optical fiber, but using other transmission means such as copper or coax.
• Fiber to the home (FTTH) refers to an architecture where commonly the optical fiber connects
directly the end user. By definition, the fiber optic communication path is terminated on or in the
premise for the purpose or carrying communications to a single subscriber.

4.2.1 OTT over FTTH

The main difference from the previous example of the OTT stream distribution scheme is the Access
Network technology used. On FTTH, the HTTP stream is transported over a fiber access network, it means
that the data leaves the Core Network through an OLT, then the signal is splitted until it arrives to the client’s
home and is received by an ONT. The ONT converts the optical signal in an electrical signal that is then
connected to a router over an Ethernet connection. The ONT and the router may be integrated into the same
hardware by some vendors.
Over the Access Network, the transmission is based on NRZ technology in the Physical Layer and then on
ATM/GEM in the Data Link.

Page 20
 FTTH
Head End Data Center Agregation Network Core Network Access Network Client Network

DPT
DECODER

MPEG-4
WDM SDH WDM OLT
Router STB
ENCODER
Router ONT
IGMP Router
OTT Server ATM Switch
Splitter

7 - Application HTTP HTTP

6 - Presentation

5 - Session PORT: XXXX PORT: XXXX

4 - Transport TCP TCP

3 - Network IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4
GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet
2 - Data Link (IEEE 802.3-2008) (IEEE 802.3-2008)
10 Gigabit Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet ATM/GEM ATM/GEM Fast Ethernet Fast Ethernet
GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet 10GBASE 10GBASE
1 - Physical (IEEE 802.3aX) (IEEE 802.3aX)
SONET / SDH SONET / SDH NRZ NRZ 100BASE-T 100BASE-T
(IEEE 802.3-2008) (IEEE 802.3-2008)

ENTITY OTT Operator Telecom Operator 1 Telecom Operator 2 Telecom Operator 1 Client Network

Figure 21 - Transmission scheme of OTT content over FTTH

4.3 HFC
HFC (Hybrid Fiber-Coax) networks appeared as an evolution of CATV networks. Cable networks or CATV
networks were originally designed to broadcast video over coaxial cabling until the subscriber’s residence.
However these networks have evolved to a multi-service platform, offering not only TV broadcasts but a
variety of telecom services, such as: FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephone, and others.
With this evolution the physical network had to evolve from a broadcast only model to a two way
communication network, with separate user communication in order to ensure that user privacy is not
compromised. This capacity has been achieved by the use of a new set of frequencies between 50 and
860MHz for downlink and between 5 and 65MHz on the uplink [8]. Each downstream/upstream data channel
uses a 6MHz window.
The architecture of a hybrid fiber coaxial network uses fiber optic cables in the core network and coaxial
cables in the distribution/access network, as seen in Figure 22.

Figure 22 – HFC Network Diagram [8]

An advantage of these networks is that some of the characteristics of the fiber optic cable, like low noise
and interference susceptibility (apart from the obvious high bandwidth), can be brought closer to the user
without having to replace the installed coaxial cable that goes until the subscriber’s home.
The signal is composed at the head-end, were the television signals are received, they are then encoded
and finally injected into fiber optic cables. The broadcasted channels are received via satellite or DTT. The
signal is transported via optical networks until the distribution centers, were the optical signal is converted
in electrical and finally distributed via the coaxial network until the subscriber’s home.

Page 21
In order to adapt the HFC networks for interactive services and normalize supply, ITU-T adopted in 1998
the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) as standard ITU-T J.112 that enables
interoperability and access to data services.

HFC

Multiplexer
REVERSE

DPT
SDH OPTOELECTRIC NODE
RF
AMPLIFIER
STB
FORWARD
Multiplexer

DECODER

DVB-C
ENCODER TAP

Device DVB-C Encoder WDM Optoelectric Node RF Amplifier TAP Set-top BOX

Location Head-End Core Network Agregation Network Access Network Access Network Home Network

ENTITY Service Provider Network Provider Customer

Figure 23 – Hybrid Fiber Coax Network Overview

DOCSIS specifies methods for transporting data over CATV networks using QAM and/or QPSK RF
modulation techniques. A DOCSIS architecture includes two primary components: a cable modem (CM)
located at the subscriber’s location, and a cable modem termination system (CMTS) located at the CATV
head-end. Cable systems supporting on-demand programming use a hybrid fiber-coaxial system. Fiber optic
lines bring digital signals to the nodes in the system where they are converted into RF channels and modem
signals on coaxial trunk lines, making it a point-multipoint communication system between the CMTS and
the subscribers CMs. The CMTS is similar in function to a DSLAM used in xDSL systems. The number of
users served by a node will have to take into consideration: thermal noise, ingress noise, common path
distortion, etc.
According to ITU-T recommendation J.222.1, these networks are defined by:
• Symmetrical Transmission (upward and downward);
• The maximum distance between the cable modem termination system (CMTS) and the cable
modem (CM) is 160km in each direction, although typical maximum separation is 15-24km.

4.3.1 OTT over HFC

In this case since the HFC network is based on DOCSIS, the OTT streams are distributed in the Access
network over Ethernet technology, as can be seen in Figure 24.
HFC
Head End Data Center Agregation Network Core Network Access Network Client Network

ETHERNET

DPT
REVERSE
DECODER STB

SDH
Multiplexer
OPTOELECTRIC RF COAXIAL
NODE AMPLIFIER
MPEG-4 FORWARD Cable
ENCODER MODEM
Router Router Multiplexer

OTT Server TAP

CMTS PC CLIENT

7 - Application HTTP HTTP

6 - Presentation

5 - Session PORT: XXXX PORT: XXXX

4 - Transport TCP TCP

3 - Network IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4
GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet
2 - Data Link (IEEE 802.3-2008) (IEEE 802.3-2008)
10 Gigabit Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet Fast Ethernet Fast Ethernet
(IEEE 802.3-2008) (IEEE 802.3-2008)
GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet 10GBASE 10GBASE GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet
1 - Physical (IEEE 802.3aX) (IEEE 802.3aX)
SONET / SDH 100BASE-T 100BASE-T
(IEEE 802.3-2008) (IEEE 802.3-2008) (IEEE 802.3-2008) (IEEE 802.3-2008)

ENTITY OTT Operator Telecom Operator 1 Telecom Operator 2 Telecom Operator 3 Client Network

Figure 24 - Transmission scheme of OTT content over HFC

Page 22
4.4 Mobile Networks
Nowadays there is increasingly more need to access different kind of services or data anywhere and
anytime, only mobile networks provide this ability to the user. The importance of mobility led to the great
development of mobile telephone networks and then mobile data networks.

4.4.1 GSM
The GSM (Global Systems for Mobile Communications) network is the most used mobile telephone network
across Europe. This telecommunication system has the ability to transmit voice, data and message services
among other supplementary services such as call forwarding or calls suspension. This network allows
transmission rates up to 14.4 kbps. The GSM system made the transition from analog technology to digital
technology, bringing improved security, robustness and reliability.
OTT video couldn’t be transmitted over GSM networks because of its low transmission rates.

4.4.1.1 GPRS
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is an evolution of the GSM system, which introduced the
transmission of data with packet switching. The GPRS network is implemented on the GSM infrastructure
and keeps most of the network equipment and acts as a supplement to this network providing enhanced
data services. Now there are two parallel networks: the GSM network responsible for voice traffic and the
GPRS network responsible for the data traffic (packet switching). This system allows transmission rates up
to 171 Kbps.
OTT video could be distributed over GPRS, but only the lowest profiles because of its limited transmission
rates.

4.4.2 UMTS
The UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems) network is one of the third generation’s mobile
access technologies. It was designed in order to continue the success of GSM and then GPRS technology,
providing higher access speed to data services. The UMTS data service supports from 144 Kbit/s (for mobile
access) up to 2 Mbps (for a fixed wireless access). W-CDMA (Wide-band Code-Division Multiple Access)
and CDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access) are modulations used in UMTS. This technology enables
easy interconnection with other telecommunications systems, such as the PSTN or other data networks,
allowing the user to move between different environments.
A UMTS system can be based on already existing mobile communication system and have radio equipment
capable of accommodating systems such as GSM, GPRS, EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution)
and UMTS, in order to ease the transition from GSM to UMTS. [30]

4.4.2.1 HSPA
High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is a set of technologies that defines the migration path for 3G/WCDMA
operators worldwide. This technology was standardized by the 3GPP, it uses the FDD transmission scheme
and includes the variants: HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access), HSUPA (High Speed Uplink
Packet Access) and HSPA Evolved. Unlike UMTS, HSPA provides very efficient voice services in
combination with mobile broadband data, consequently filling the UMTS broadband gap allowing the user
to enjoy speeds of at least 1Mbps on the uplink and 14.4 Mbps on the downlink. HSPA Evolved introduces
Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) capabilities and higher order modulation (64QAM), enabling greater
throughput speeds of up to 21Mbps on the downlink.
This technology was developed to cover a flaw existing in UMTS networks, i.e. to make the link between 3G
mobile network and Internet services, allowing to overlay various protocols that enable high-speed data
communications to several users served by same cell.

4.4.3 LTE
Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a 4G wireless broadband technology developed by the 3GPP and it represents
an evolution of the mobile access technology from GSM, a 2G standard, to UMTS, the 3G technologies
based upon GSM. This technology is also known as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Network (E-UTRAN).

Page 23
 Figure 25 – Mobile Network Evolution from GSM to LTE [31]
The capacity of each sector is substantially increased improving the bit rate and mobility of each end use,
leading to a lower latency in the network. With the rise of the IP protocol as a transport protocol carrying all
types of traffic, LTE upper layers are based upon TCP/IP which results in an all-IP network with point-to-
point QoS. LTE supports mixed data, voice, video and messaging traffic, they all run over IP, for example
the voice service will be supported by VoLTE (Voice Over LTE).
LTE uses OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) and MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output)
antenna technology, similar to that used in the IEEE 802.11n wireless local area network (WLAN) standard.
The higher signal to noise ratio (SNR) at the receiver enabled by MIMO, along with OFDM, provides
improved coverage and throughput, especially in dense urban areas where signal is harder to propagate.
It is expected that this technology can achieve peak data rates of around 100 Mbit/s upward and 50Mbit/s
downward, these maximum values for optimal conditions that can hardly be achieved in commercial wireless
networks today.

4.4.3.1 OTT over LTE

LTE is the most recent wireless access technology and the broadband available is the ideal to access OTT
multimedia content. Today LTE offers a broadband downlink of approximately 100 Mbps.
In Figure 26, it is illustrated the transmission of an HTTP video stream over a LTE access network. The last
hop of the stream goes through an all IP network, based on IPv4 and Ethernet over a RF link.
In LTE when data flow of information leaves the core network, enters the E-UTRAN Networks and is routed
by a Radio Network Controller (RNC), than the information is transmission over the air through an RF link
by an eNodeB.
LTE
Head End Data Center Agregation Network Core Network Access Network
E-UTRAN Network

DPT
DECODER

MPEG-4
WDM SDH WDM
ENCODER
Router RNC
IGMP Router
OTT Server ATM Switch
eNodeB

7 - Application HTTP HTTP

6 - Presentation

5 - Session PORT: XXXX PORT: XXXX

4 - Transport TCP TCP

3 - Network IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4

GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet
2 - Data Link (IEEE 802.3-2008) (IEEE 802.3-2008)
10 Gigabit Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet
(IEEE 802.3-2008) (IEEE 802.3-2008)
Fast Ethernet
GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet 10GBASE 10GBASE GigaBit Ethernet GigaBit Ethernet
1 - Physical (IEEE 802.3aX) (IEEE 802.3aX)
SONET / SDH
(IEEE 802.3-2008) (IEEE 802.3-2008)
Radio Link
(IEEE 802.3-2008) (IEEE 802.3-2008)

ENTITY OTT Operator Telecom Operator 1 Telecom Operator 2 Telecom Operator 3

Figure 26 - Transmission scheme of OTT content over LTE

We can have multiple telecom networks involved in the transmission of OTT streams. We can have a first
Telecom Operator that the OTT service provider contracted to connect him to the Internet. Telecom operator
1 can be connected to a Tier 1 operator (Telecom Operator 2) to transmit information to the access telecom
operator (Telecom Operator 3) where the client is connected. It means that the stream flow can go through

Page 24
multiple operators in the whole end to end connection. In some cases the whole transmission can also be
done by only one operator.
Typically Tier 1 operators are operators who transmit high quantities of data between telecom operators.
This multiple telecom operator end-to-end concept also applies to the other access networks already
described, where an OTT video can be streamed.

4.4.4 WiMAX
WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a wireless technology and it’s defined
according to the IEEE 802.16 standard. This access network technology is intended as an alternative to
xDSL or cable in the last mile access.
This technology has a much greater range than Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11), providing wireless broadband access
coverage up to 50 km for fixed stations and 5-10 km for mobile stations with the same performance of Wi-
Fi but with the same coverage and quality of service as a traditional cellular network. It works in the 2 to 66
GHz range and enables connectivity without a direct line-of-sight to a base station, providing data rates up
to 70Mbps.

Figure 27 – Fixed WiMAX deployment and usage models

However, the available bandwidth is also shared by all the users that are connected to the network
simultaneously, so greater the number of users, smaller the bandwidth available for each.
Wireless networks offer some advantages over wired ones because they can be helpful to connect remote
areas, where wired networks are not yet installed or are too expensive to deploy. We can see this happen
in some developing countries, where WiMAX is being adopted in areas that had no previous broadband
infrastructures.

4.4.5 Wi-Fi
The Wi-Fi technology was developed to provide wireless short range, giving users greater convenience in
their daily lives. This technology is generally used for distances of 30 meters indoors and 90 meters
outdoors. Transmission rates evolved over the years with many amendments introduced into the original
standard and today we can achieve connection speeds up to 300 Mbps (using IEEE 802.11n, the fastest
standard in optimal conditions [9]). However, under “normal use” it operates at lower speeds, probably
around 130Mpbs or less. These speeds are, mainly influenced by the number of users on the network
(shared medium, shared timeslots) and on the number of different Wi-Fi networks on the same physical
space (radio signal interference).
This technology is viewed as a complement and an essential part of the Home Network and is wide spread
and well established over the world.

Page 25
4.5 IPTV
IPTV – Internet Protocol Television - is a technology that uses Internet Protocols (IP) to deliver television
services through packet switched networks, instead of other traditional networks such as terrestrial
broadcast, satellite signal, and cable television formats. The official definition approved by the group focused
on IPTV of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T FG IPTV) is:
"IPTV is defined as multimedia services such as television/video/audio/text/graphics/data delivered over IP
based networks managed to provide the required level of quality of service and experience, security,
interactivity and reliability." [11]
Nowadays IPTV services aren’t used to deliver only television channels, but they deliver also a large amount
of other contents, such as applications, games, information content, radio streams, among others. This
service being usually part of Triple Play bundles, including also voice and data services it becomes a
challenge for telecom operators, where they have to provide these services through their already existing
networks with high standards of quality of service (QoS).

Figure 28 – IPTV network [10]

The main features of this technology are:
• Support for interactive television - the ability to transmit information in both directions, server/client and
client/server, allows IPTV service providers to offer a larger quantity of interactive television applications such
as video on demand
• Customization - an IPTV system, through its bi-directional communication allows users to personalize their
television content in order to see what they want and when they want to see, according to their interest
programming this can be achieved with on demand content.
• Optimized bandwidth management - instead of sending all channels available to all users, the IPTV
technology allows service providers to send only the channel requested by the user. This allows network
operators to save a lot of bandwidth on their networks.

In order to take advantage of the already existing copper networks, the operators have improved the
efficiency of these to be able to quickly provide the contents to the end user without errors. One of the
reasons for the increasing need of more bandwidth is due to the size of the content that is distributed. Video
data requires large storage space, so if we want to transmit this data in the shortest time possible we need
a higher rate of transmission and consequently more bandwidth.
The IPTV architecture evolution can be summarized through the following steps:
1. IPTV architecture not based on next-generation networks - the first generation of IPTV architecture
consisted in one IPTV headend and middleware platforms for distribution services. This is the
solution that is currently implemented in the IPTV market. You can interact with this architecture
subsystems NGN (Next-Generation Networks) but generally the service control is done separately
and is used a new application layer.
2. IPTV architecture for next generation networks not based on IMS - allows interaction at specific
points between IPTV functions (such as control functions) and some existing elements of next
generation networks (such as control elements of transport). In this step, a dedicated IPTV
subsystem is used to provide all the IPTV functionality (IPTV control and user management) to
integrate IPTV components in NGN architectures.
3. IMS-based IPTV architecture - specifies IPTV functions based on subsystem IMS (IP Multimedia
Subsystem), and allows reuse of IMS functionalities, initiation of services and control mechanisms
based on SIP (Session Initiation Protocol).

Page 26
4.5.1 IPTV Distribution over ADSL and FTTH Networks
The distribution of IPTV over ADSL or FTTH networks can be summarized in in Figure 29 and Figure 30,
and described by:
• IPTV uses RTP (application layer) over UDP (transport layer);
• The signal goes normally through 3 different Networks:
o Service Provider network: usually inside the data center or between the head-end and the
data center. This network is used to acquire, encode and broadcast the content.
o Network Provider: since we’re talking about a service where it’s mandatory to own a
managed network to guarantee quality of service. The network has to be owned practically
end-to-end by the IPTV operator.
o Customer or Home Network: owned by the client inside its premises and usually installed
by the network and/or service provider.

The main difference between the distribution of IPTV over ADSL or FTTH lies on the access network:
• Because the ADSL (Figure 29) is based on the old POTS technology it offers slower speeds
in the access network, this can restrict the access to channels with HD quality. In order to
maintain quality IPTV reserves a content bandwidth to deliver the TV channels, usually 4 Mbps
for SD channels, this normally interferes with the customer internet signal since they are
sharing the same network. So if we have 2 SD signals over an ADSL network with a top speed
of 16 Mbps, we are consuming with the IPTV service half of the bandwidth (8Mbps).
• FTTH is fiber based (Figure 30), and offers higher access speeds. Nowadays the access
speed is set to 100 Mbps, more than 4 times the offered by ADSL. With this technology we’ve
got no constraints offering multiple HD and SD signals.

ADSL

DECODER

MPEG-4
ENCODER
WDM
DPT
SDH
ATM IGMP Router
ADSL
Modem/
STB
Router Switch DSLAM Router
IPTV Server

Device IPTV Server Router WDM ATM Switch IGMP Router DSLAM ADSL Modem/Router Set-top BOX

Location Head-End Head-End Core Network Agregation Network Agregation Network Access Network Home Network Home Network

7 - Application RTP RTP

6 - Presentation

5 - Session PORT: XXXX PORT: XXXX

4 - Transport UDP UDP

3 - Network IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4

2 - Data Link Fast Ethernet Fast Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet Fast Ethernet Fast Ethernet Fast Ethernet ATM/VC Fast Ethernet

1 - Physical 10GBASE-T 10GBASE-T SONET / SDH 10GBASE-T 100BASE-T 100BASE-T DSL / ATM 25 100BASE-T

ENTITY Service Provider Network Provider Customer

Figure 29 – IPTV transmission scheme over ADSL Networks

Page 27
 FTTH

IGMP Router
DECODER

MPEG-4
ENCODER
WDM
DPT
SDH OLT
Router STB
Router
IPTV Server

Optical Line Optical Network

Device IPTV Server Router WDM Passive Splitter Router Set-top BOX
Termination Terminal
Location Head-End Head-End Core Network Agregation Network Agregation Network Home Network Home Network Home Network

7 - Application RTP RTP

6 - Presentation

5 - Session PORT: XXXX PORT: XXXX

4 - Transport UDP UDP

3 - Network IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4 IPv4

2 - Data Link Fast Ethernet Fast Ethernet 10 Giga Ethernet 10 Giga Ethernet ATM/GEM ATM/GEM Fast Ethernet Fast Ethernet

1 - Physical 10GBASE-T 10GBASE-T SONET / SDH SONET / SDH NRZ NRZ 100BASE-T 100BASE-T

ENTITY Service Provider Network Provider Customer

Figure 30 - IPTV transmission scheme over FTTH Networks

4.5.2 IPTV vs. OTT

IPTV and OTT are two technology mediums to distribute television and video over IP networks. However
the main difference between them is that IPTV was designed to be used over a managed network, the
service provider has to own the infrastructure in order to provide the service; and OTT was intended to
deliver video over unmanaged networks.
IPTV had formerly the advantage of quality control over the video delivery since it was running over a
managed network, but nowadays QoS over OTT can be controlled with content management systems and
advanced CDN solutions.
The main advantage of OTT over IPTV is that it was designed to reach any connected device, giving a key
competitive advantage in terms of customer and device reach.
Other differences between these two technologies are resumed in Table 2 below.

IPTV OTT

Type of network Managed (“walled gardens”) Un-managed (open internet)

Service Provider has to own the Service provider may or not own the
Network ownership
network network
Guaranteed if some delivery
Guaranteed (control over quality can
Quality of Service techniques are used such as Adaptive
be easily achieved)
Streaming and CDNs.
Protocols Transport Streams (TS) over UDP Mainly based on HTTP over TCP

Routing Topology Multicast Unicast

Table 2 – Comparison of IPTV vs. OTT ]

Page 28
5. Referências
1. K. Lazic, M. Milosevic, M. Kovacev, and N. Smiljkovic, "One Implementation of adaptive streaming over
HTTP on Android DTV platform," in Consumer Electronics - Berlin (ICCE-Berlin), 2012 IEEE International
Conference on, 2012, pp. 282-284.
2. " How TCP/IP Works", Technet, Microsoft.
Available online (23.04.2017):
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc786128(v=ws.10).aspx
3. "The TCP/IP Guide"
Available online (08.11.2017):
http://www.tcpipguide.com/free/t_TCPFundamentalsandGeneralOperation.htm
4. Edgeware, "HTTP Adaptive Streaming Using Edgeware Video Appliances," Whitepaper, p. 13, Jan 2011
2011.
5. V. Swaminathan and W. Sheng, "Low latency live video streaming using HTTP chunked encoding," in
Multimedia Signal Processing (MMSP), 2011 IEEE 13th International Workshop on, 2011, pp. 1-6.
6. A. S. Inc., "Real Time Messaging Chunk Stream Protocol," June 2009.
7. A. S. Inc., "RTMP Commands Messages," June 2009.
8. P. J. Conlan, Cisco Network Professional’s Advanced Internetworking Guide. John Wiley and Sons
Publishing Ltd., 2009.
9. L. A. N. Man, S. Committee, and I. Computer, Part 11 : Wireless LAN Medium Access Control ( MAC ) and
Physical Layer ( PHY ) S pecifications, vol. 2012, no. March. 2012.
10. ITU-T Newslog, “IPTV Standardization on Track Say Industry Experts,” 2006.
11. ITU, “IPTV – MARKET , REGULATORY TRENDS AND POLICY OPTIONS IN EUROPE,” no. October, 2006.
12. Comer, Douglas E. (2006). Internetworking with TCP/IP:Principles, Protocols, and Architecture. 1 (5th ed.).
Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-187671-6.
13. Communication Networks, 2/e, Alberto Leon-Garcia, Indra Widjaja

6. Useful Web Links:

http://www.fccn.pt/pt/servicos/conectividade-e-infraestrutura/gigapix/#!/pt/servicos/conectividade-e-
infraestrutura/gigapix/redes-ligadas/
(Accessed on 20(04/2017)
http://www.fccn.pt/pt/servicos/conectividade-e-infraestrutura/rcts-ip/
(Accessed on 20(04/2017)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traceroute
(Accessed on 20(04/2017)
http://www.slashroot.in/how-does-traceroute-work-and-examples-using-traceroute-command
(Accessed on 20(04/2017)

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