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Network Traffic Engineering: Part 1

IP networks are inherently unreliable. They always have been – it is literally designed in as a feature.

Broadcasters, on the other hand, demand reliability from their IP networks, with an uncompromising focus on deterministic delivery as a fundamental requirement of any real-time media workflow. 

This contradiction is the reason why this IP Network Traffic Engineering content collection is so timely and so important. As networks become more complex and remote production workflows become more prevalent, finding solutions to these contradictions are not just nice-to-have. They are essential.  

Part 1 of this free series of articles introduces the trade-off between latency and reliability, and explains how protocols like RIST, SRT, MPEG-TS, and QUIC each address it in different ways. Essential reading for broadcast engineers and network designers, the series builds a picture of how to navigate IP's central challenge by adopting the right protocol for the right environment. 

Coming soon in part 2:
  • What Is WebRTC?
  • SDN’s & Equal-Cost Multi-Path Routing
  • Network Traffic Engineering

Network Traffic Engineering: Part 1

This Themed Content Collection is a free PDF download which contains three original articles:

Article 1 - RIST & SRT - The Success Of ARQ Based Protocols
RIST and SRT suffer much less latency than TCP, but also have the potential to cause congestion collapse. Here’s why.

Article 2 - Why MPEG-TS Is Still The Standard
Transport Stream is still the prevalent container format in broadcast – here we discuss why and when it is used.

Article 3 - Head-Of-Line Blocking - Why QUIC Changes The Rules
QUIC is a protocol which reduces head-of-line blocking. Here we discuss what head-of-line blocking (HoL) is, and how QUIC works.

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