Master Thesis: Low-Latency Live Media Transport: Protocol Comparison and Media-Aware Prioritization
Welcome to Net Insight, where innovation, collaboration, and trust are the cornerstones of our success!
Net Insight (Nasdaq Stockholm: NETI B) is a Swedish media technology company based in Solna, Stockholm. Its Nimbra products are used by broadcasters, production companies and service providers around the world to transport live video for sports, news and entertainment.
About Nimbra Edge
Nimbra Edge is Net Insight's cloud-native platform for live media transport. It runs in public, private and hybrid cloud environments and controls both software and physical media-processing appliances. Live streams can be transported using technologies such as RIST, SRT and Zixi, and processed, monitored or transcoded along the way.
About the team and the thesis opportunities
The Nimbra Edge team works across this entire chain, from the control plane and user interface to low-latency video and audio processing and transport. We are looking for master's thesis students interested in real-world problems in live media systems. The topics below are intended as starting points, and the exact scope can be adapted together with the student and university.
Research question
How does Media over QUIC Transport (MOQT) compare with RIST and SRT under realistic network and latency constraints, and can media-aware prioritization improve delivery when network capacity becomes insufficient?
Background and objective
Investigate MOQT as a transport for low-latency live media, using RIST and/or SRT as a baseline. Explore how knowledge about media importance and playback deadlines can help a transport system decide which media to transmit, retransmit, delay or discard when all available data cannot arrive in time.
Suggested approach
The work would use a reproducible test environment to study a selected set of network conditions, such as packet loss, burst loss, jitter, packet reordering and changes in available bandwidth. An initial comparison would establish how the selected transports behave under these conditions, followed by an evaluation of media-aware prioritization in one suitable transport.
Possible prioritization strategies
audio versus video.
key frames, reference frames and their dependent frames.
base and enhancement layers.
primary and secondary programme streams.
media versus metadata or ancillary data.
playback deadlines and the remaining useful lifetime of data.
Evaluation criteria
end-to-end latency and latency stability.
media delivered before its deadline.
decodable video frames and audio continuity.
bandwidth efficiency and protocol overhead.
startup and recovery time after loss or congestion.
starvation of lower-priority media.
Possible extension: alternatives to MPEG-TS
The work could also investigate alternatives to MPEG Transport Stream (MPEG-TS) packaging for MOQT, examining both benefits and drawbacks in terms of latency, overhead, media-aware prioritization, synchronization and interoperability. This could include identifying what information must be conveyed separately when MPEG-TS is replaced, and assessing how far additional signaling through MSF (MOQT Streaming Format) can meet those needs. The investigation could explore which capabilities are preserved, where further mechanisms are needed, and what complexity or limitations the alternative packaging introduces.
Scope and flexibility
The scope can be adapted by selecting a small number of network scenarios, media structures, packaging formats and prioritization strategies. A thesis could, for example, compare MOQT with one established transport and then investigate a selected packaging approach or prioritization strategy within MOQT. Existing work comparing RIST and SRT can provide a baseline, allowing the contribution to focus primarily on what MOQT changes or enables.
ABOUT NET INSIGHT
Net Insight (Nasdaq: NETI B) provides the highest performing, most open video transport and media cloud technology for content providers as the industry standard for flexibility and service across live contribution, distribution and remote production media workflows.
For over 25 years, the world’s leading content owners, broadcasters, production companies, service providers and enterprises have trusted Net Insight’s Emmy® Award winning Nimbra technology to guarantee media delivery. Today, Net Insight partners with hundreds of customers in over 70 countries to ensure media flows across managed and unmanaged IP networks, and the cloud – from anywhere, to everywhere. It enables customers to get the best from any mix of virtualized, cloud and IP technology and is the only platform to support all the major industry standards, protocols and clouds.
Welcome to Net Insight, where innovation, collaboration, and trust are the cornerstones of our success. As one team, we are committed to delivering value to our customers, contributing to the growth and success of our company. Together we create a dynamic and positive workplace where everyone is valued, engaged and empowered to make an impact
- Location
- Stockholm
Stockholm
About Net Insight
Net Insight (Nasdaq: NETI B) provides the highest performing, most available video transport, and media cloud technology for content providers as the industry standard for flexibility and service across live contribution, distribution, and remote production media workflows.
For over 25 years, the world’s leading content owners, broadcasters, production companies, service providers, and enterprises have trusted Net Insight’s Emmy® Award-winning Nimbra technology to guarantee media delivery. Net Insight partners with hundreds of customers in over 70 countries to ensure media flows across managed and unmanaged IP networks and the cloud – from anywhere to everywhere. It enables customers to get the best from any mix of virtualized, cloud, and IP technology. It is all the major industry standards, protocols, and clouds.
Net Insight also provides time synchronization for 5G and other critical networks. The innovative Zyntai solution improves network resilience, and reduces costs and deployment time