Media Transport

Quick Links

• Introduction
• Prerequisites
• Course Structure
• Exams
• Resources
• Literature

Remark:

Since the winter term 2022 still is a special one (due to the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic and the energy-cost explosion), we have decided to offer the course Media Transport in a format considering the possibility for as well students as lecturer and tutors to give and / or consume parts of the course online using web-conference tools:

• Course material, quizzes and assignments will be done in Moodle.
• Lectures will be offered in Teams, in a hybrid fashion (lecture hall plus Teams).
• The content will be based on our MT-book that is available in various formats (ipynb, pdf, html).

Course Details

Classroom

The lecture will be offered in a hybrid format (classroom plus remote participation via MS Teams). Under special circumstances it might be advantageous or even required to omit the classroom and switch to fully remote. This will be announced on time.

For participating remotely please join the MS-Teams Team by sending a join request under the following link: MT WS 2022 Team

Introduction

Nowadays a significant portion of the Internet traffic is due to audio/visual applications (VoIP, Youtube, IPTV). However, the used transport protocols (TCP, UDP/RTP) are inappropriate and lack means of optimized and application layer adapted content transport.

The course will introduce the requirements for media transport in the Internet, introduce proper channel models, calculate the channel capacity of those channels and derive a framework for optimized media transport. The focus is on the error coding in the transport layer, so that the results can be applied to any audio/visual application.

Besides giving an overview over recent specifications and standards (DVB, DASH, QUIC) the course will introduce latest research results on media transport.

Prerequisites

Digital Transmission & Signal Processing as well as Audio/visual Communications and Networks are recommended for this course. Students with solid background in Computer Networks and Error Correction, however, are also encouraged to participate.

Course Structure

Basic Rules

• Please note that small changes and corrections will be applied to the lecture notes throughout the semester. If you find mistakes or have suggestions how to enhance the lecture notes we appreciate your input!
• Please don’t hesitate to tell us if you have any comments or suggestions related to the MT-Book, the Quizzes, the Tutorials or organizational issues. We will improve it soon so you can benefit from it, not only future students.
• There will be online weekly quizzes with 5 questions for 15 minutes every week. These quizzes are graded individually and the points will be published online.

Lectures

• Place: Campus E1.3, Room: HS001 (hybrid; remotely via Teams)
• Time: Tuesday 10:30–11:45 and Wednesday 12:15–13:45 (start October 25^th)

Quizzes

• Place: Campus E1.3, Room: HS001 (online via Moodle)
• Time: Tuesday 10:15–10:30

Tutorials

• Place: Campus E1.3, Room: 016 (hybrid; otherwise remotely via Teams)
• Time: Thursday 10:15–11:45

>

Exam Dates

• The exams will be held as ORAL exams
• Main Exam - Calendar Week 07, Exact Dates & Time: tbd
• Re-Exam - Calendar Week 12, Exact Dates & Time: tbd

We will schedule all exam slots via Moodle. The exact time of each slot and how you can choose a certain slot will be announced at a later date.

Task Sheets

• Task sheets are published on Fridays and are available online.
• You submit your solution and work on the tasks up to and including the following tutorial.
• During the tutorial you can discuss and evolve your solutions and get up to three additional points.

Correction

• The quizzes and task sheets for this course will be divided into two parts (6 each in blocks A&B). It is necessary to pass both the blocks individually to be eligible for the exam.
• Weekly Quizzes and Task Sheets:
  • Each weekly quiz are worth 5 points total, which adds up to 30 points total for each Blocks A&B. These points can be earned individually by everyone.
  • Each task sheet contains minimum 3 tasks, which adds up to 18 points total for each Blocks A&B. These points can be earned if you individually can demonstrate your understanding on the task during the tutorial and by your submitted solutions.
  • Final points are calculated by adding up over all quizzes and task sheets within a block.
  • You need minimum 40% in total to pass a block and must pass both block A and B to be eligible for the exam.

Resources

• UdS has a MATLAB campus license which can be used by all university students for non-commercial purposes.
• CIP pool at Saarland university provides access.
• This lecture will follow the online Multimedia Transport book, which can also be used locally following these instructions.

Literature

Ramjee Prasad, Marina Ruggieri: "Technology Trends in Wireless Communications", Artech House Publishers, 2003, ISBN = {1-58053-352-3}

Mihaela van der Schaar, Philip A. Chou: "Multimedia over IP and wireless networks: compression, networking, and systems", Academic Press, 2007, ISBN = {0-12088-480-1}