A contribution-aware multiple parent hierarchical overlay network for P2P media streaming

Application-layer multicast has been considered as a promising method for streaming live media to users in P2P networks. However, the inefficient bandwidth utilization and the vulnerability to peer dynamics remain important issues. In this paper, we introduce a new approach to constructing an efficient overlay leveraging the strong features of tree and mesh methods. A core overlay is built in a fashion of multiple sub-trees, which allows each peer to receive data from other peers located in any different sub-trees. We propose a set of auxiliary connections, which connect between two nodes that do not have permanent parent/child relationship, to achieve a push-based data transmission from multiple parents without redundancy. Simulations through ns2 demonstrate that our scheme provides a good streaming quality with low end-to-end delay. Also, the proposed auxiliary links is beneficial in improving the resiliency of the overlay and utilizing the bandwidth of peers.