AVTCORE J. Lennox
Internet-Draft Vidyo
Updates: 3550, 4585 (if approved) M. Westerlund
Intended status: Standards Track Ericsson
Expires: August 18, 2014 Q. Wu
Huawei
C. Perkins
University of Glasgow
February 14, 2014
Sending Multiple Media Streams in a Single RTP Session
draft-ietf-avtcore-rtp-multi-stream-03
Abstract
This document expands and clarifies the behavior of the Real-Time
Transport Protocol (RTP) endpoints when they are using multiple
synchronization sources (SSRCs), e.g. for sending multiple media
streams, in a single RTP session. In particular, issues involving
RTCP Control Protocol (RTCP) messages are described.
This document updates RFC 3550 in regards to handling of multiple
SSRCs per endpoint in RTP sessions. It also updates RFC 4585 to
clarify the calculation of the timeout of SSRCs and the inclusion of
feeback messages.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on August 18, 2014.
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Copyright Notice
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This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Use Cases For Multi-Stream Endpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1. Multiple-Capturer Endpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2. Multi-Media Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3. Multi-Stream Mixers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.4. Multiple SSRCs for a Single Media Source . . . . . . . . 5
4. Multi-Stream Endpoint RTP Media Recommendations . . . . . . . 5
5. Multi-Stream Endpoint RTCP Recommendations . . . . . . . . . 5
5.1. RTCP Reporting Requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5.2. Initial Reporting Interval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5.3. Compound RTCP Packets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5.3.1. Maintaining AVG_RTCP_SIZE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5.3.2. Scheduling RTCP with Multiple Reporting SSRCs . . . . 8
5.4. RTP/AVPF Feedback Packets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.4.1. The SSRC Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.4.2. Scheduling a Feedback Packet . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6. RTCP Considerations for Streams with Disparate Rates . . . . 12
6.1. Timing out SSRCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.2. Tuning RTCP transmissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.2.1. RTP/AVP and RTP/SAVP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.2.2. RT/AVPF and RTP/SAVPF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8. Open Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
9. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
10. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
10.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
10.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Appendix A. Changes From Earlier Versions . . . . . . . . . . . 19
A.1. Changes From WG Draft -02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
A.2. Changes From WG Draft -01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
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A.3. Changes From WG Draft -00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
A.4. Changes From Individual Draft -02 . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
A.5. Changes From Individual Draft -01 . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
A.6. Changes From Individual Draft -00 . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1. Introduction
At the time The Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) [RFC3550] was
originally written, and for quite some time after, endpoints in RTP
sessions typically only transmitted a single media stream, and thus
used a single synchronization source (SSRC) per RTP session, where
separate RTP sessions were typically used for each distinct media
type.
Recently, however, a number of scenarios have emerged (discussed
further in Section 3) in which endpoints wish to send multiple RTP
media streams, distinguished by distinct RTP synchronization source
(SSRC) identifiers, in a single RTP session. Although RTP's initial
design did consider such scenarios, the specification was not
consistently written with such use cases in mind. The specifications
are thus somewhat unclear.
The purpose of this document is to expand and clarify [RFC3550]'s
language for these use cases. The authors believe this does not
result in any major normative changes to the RTP specification,
however this document defines how the RTP specification is to be
interpreted. In these cases, this document updates RFC3550. The
document also updates RFC 4585 in regards to the timeout of inactive
SSRCs as specificed in Section 6.1 as well as clarifying the
inclusion of feedback messages.
The document starts with terminology and some use cases where
multiple sources will occur. This is followed by RTP and RTCP
recommendations to resolve issues. Next are security considerations
and remaining open issues.
2. Terminology
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC
2119 [RFC2119] and indicate requirement levels for compliant
implementations.
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3. Use Cases For Multi-Stream Endpoints
This section discusses several use cases that have motivated the
development of endpoints that sends RTP data using multiple SSRCs in
a single RTP session.
3.1. Multiple-Capturer Endpoints
The most straightforward motivation for an endpoint to send multiple
RTP streams in a session is the scenario where an endpoint has
multiple capture devices, and thus media sources, of the same media
type and characteristics. For example, telepresence endpoints, of
the type described by the CLUE Telepresence Framework
[I-D.ietf-clue-framework], often have multiple cameras or microphones
covering various areas of a room.
3.2. Multi-Media Sessions
Recent work has been done in RTP
[I-D.ietf-avtcore-multi-media-rtp-session] and SDP
[I-D.ietf-mmusic-sdp-bundle-negotiation] to update RTP's historical
assumption that media sources of different media types would always
be sent on different RTP sessions. In this work, a single endpoint's
audio and video RTP media streams (for example) are instead sent in a
single RTP session.
3.3. Multi-Stream Mixers
There are several RTP topologies which can involve a central device
that itself generates multiple RTP media streams in a session.
One example is a mixer providing centralized compositing for a multi-
capture scenario like that described in Section 3.1. In this case,
the centralized node is behaving much like a multi-capturer endpoint,
generating several similar and related sources.
More complicated is the Selective Forwarding Middlebox, see
Section 3.7 of [I-D.ietf-avtcore-rtp-topologies-update]. This is a
middlebox that receives media streams from several endpoints, and
then selectively forwards modified versions of some of the streams
toward the other endpoints it is connected to. Toward one
destination, a separate media source appears in the session for every
other source connected to the middlebox, "projected" from the
original streams, but at any given time many of them can appear to be
inactive (and thus are receivers, not senders, in RTP). This sort of
device is closer to being an RTP mixer than an RTP translator, in
that it terminates RTCP reporting about the mixed streams, and it can
re-write SSRCs, timestamps, and sequence numbers, as well as the
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contents of the RTP payloads, and can turn sources on and off at will
without appearing to be generating packet loss. Each projected
stream will typically preserve its original RTCP source description
(SDES) information.
3.4. Multiple SSRCs for a Single Media Source
There are also several cases where a single media source results in
the usage of multiple SSRCs within the same RTP session. Transport
robustification tools like RTP Retransmission [RFC4588] result in
multiple SSRCs, one with source data, and another with the repair
data. Scalable encoders and their RTP payload foramts, like H.264's
extension for Scalable Video Coding(SVC) [RFC6190] can be transmitted
in a configuration where the scalable layers are distributed over
multiple SSRCs within the same session, to enable RTP packet stream
level (SSRC) selection and routing in conferencing middleboxes.
4. Multi-Stream Endpoint RTP Media Recommendations
While an endpoint MUST (of course) stay within its share of the
available session bandwidth, as determined by signalling and
congestion control, this need not be applied independently or
uniformly to each media stream and its SSRCs. In particular, session
bandwidth MAY be reallocated among an endpoint's SSRCs, for example
by varying the bandwidth use of a variable-rate codec, or changing
the codec used by the media stream, up to the constraints of the
session's negotiated (or declared) codecs. This includes enabling or
disabling media streams and their redundancy streams as more or less
bandwidth becomes available.
5. Multi-Stream Endpoint RTCP Recommendations
This section contains a number of different RTCP clarifications or
recommendations that enables more efficient and simpler behavior
without loss of functionality.
The RTP Control Protocol (RTCP) is defined in Section 6 of [RFC3550],
but it is largely documented in terms of "participants". In many
cases, the specification's recommendations for "participants" are to
be interpreted as applying to individual SSRCs, rather than to
endpoints. This section describes several concrete cases where this
applies.
5.1. RTCP Reporting Requirement
For each of an endpoint's SSRCs, whether or not they are currently
sending media, SR/RR and SDES packets MUST be sent at least once per
RTCP report interval. (For discussion of the content of SR or RR
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packets' reception statistic reports, see
[I-D.ietf-avtcore-rtp-multi-stream-optimisation].)
5.2. Initial Reporting Interval
When a new SSRC is added to a unicast session, the sentence in
[RFC3550]'s Section 6.2 applies: "For unicast sessions ... the delay
before sending the initial compound RTCP packet MAY be zero." This
applies to individual SSRCs as well. Thus, endpoints MAY send an
initial RTCP packet for an SSRC immediately upon adding it to a
unicast session.
This allowance also applies, as written, when initially joining a
unicast session. However, in this case some caution needs to be
exercised if the end-point or mixer has a large number of sources
(SSRCs) as this can create a significant burst. How big an issue
this is depends on the number of sources for which the initial SR or
RR packets and Session Description CNAME items are to be sent, in
relation to the RTCP bandwidth.
(tbd: Maybe some recommendation here? The aim in restricting this to
unicast sessions was to avoid this burst of traffic, which the usual
RTCP timing and reconsideration rules will prevent.)
5.3. Compound RTCP Packets
Section 6.1 in [RFC3550] gives the following advice to RTP
translators and mixers:
"It is RECOMMENDED that translators and mixers combine individual
RTCP packets from the multiple sources they are forwarding into
one compound packet whenever feasible in order to amortize the
packet overhead (see Section 7). An example RTCP compound packet
as might be produced by a mixer is shown in Fig. 1. If the
overall length of a compound packet would exceed the MTU of the
network path, it SHOULD be segmented into multiple shorter
compound packets to be transmitted in separate packets of the
underlying protocol. This does not impair the RTCP bandwidth
estimation because each compound packet represents at least one
distinct participant. Note that each of the compound packets MUST
begin with an SR or RR packet."
Note: To avoid confusion, an RTCP packet is an individual item,
such as a Sender Report (SR), Receiver Report (RR), Source
Description (SDES), Goodbye (BYE), Application Defined (APP),
Feedback [RFC4585] or Extended Report (XR) [RFC3611] packet. A
compound packet is the combination of two or more such RTCP
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packets where the first packet has to be an SR or an RR packet,
and which contains a SDES packet containing an CNAME item.
The above results in compound RTCP packets that contain multiple SR
or RR packets from different sources (SSRCs) as well as any of the
other packet types. There are no restrictions on the order in which
the packets can occur within the compound packet, except the regular
compound rule, i.e., starting with an SR or RR.
This advice applies to multi-media-stream endpoints as well, with the
same restrictions and considerations. (Note, however, that the last
sentence does not apply to AVPF [RFC4585] or SAVPF [RFC5124] feedback
packets if Reduced-Size RTCP [RFC5506] is in use.)
5.3.1. Maintaining AVG_RTCP_SIZE
When multiple local SSRCs are sending their RTCP packets in the same
compound packet, this obviously results in larger RTCP compound
packets. This will have an affect on the value of the average RTCP
packet size metering (avg_rtcp_size) that is done for the purpose of
RTCP transmission scheduling calculation. This section discusses the
impact of this and provide recommendations with how to deal with it.
This section will use the concept of an 'RTCP Compound Packet' to
represent not just proper RTCP compound packets, i.e. ones that start
with an SR or RR RTCP packet and include at least one SDES CNAME
item. For the purpose of the below calculation, other valid lower
layer datagram units an RTCP implementation can send or receive,
independently if they are an aggregate or not of RTCP packets are
also considered. This especially includes Reduced-Size RTCP packets
[RFC5506].
The RTCP packet scheduling algorithm that is defined in RTP [RFC3550]
deals with individual SSRCs. These SSRCs transmit their set of RTCP
packets at each scheduled interval. Thus, to maintain this per-SSRC
property of the scheduling, the avg_rtcp_size needs to be updated
with per-SSRC average RTCP compound packet sizes. The avg_rtcp_size
value SHALL be updated for each received or sent RTCP compound packet
with the total size (including packet overhead such as IP/UDP)
divided by the number of reporting SSRCs. The number of reporting
SSRCs SHALL be determined by counting the number of different SSRCs
that are the source of Sender Report (SR) or Receiver Report (RR)
RTCP packets within the compound. A non-compound RTCP packet, i.e.
it contains no SR or RR RTCP packets at all -- as can happen with
Reduced-Size RTCP packets [RFC5506] -- the SSRC count SHALL be
considered to be 1.
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Note: The above makes it possible to amortize the packet overhead
between the number of SSRCs sharing a RTCP compound packet.
For an RTCP end-point that doesn't follow the above rule, and instead
uses the full RTCP compound packet size as input, the average RTCP
reporting interval will be scaled up (i.e. become longer) with a
factor that is proportional to the number of SSRCs sourcing RTCP
packets in an RTCP compound packet as well as the set of SSRCs being
aggregated in proportion to the total number of participants. This
factor can quite easily become larger than 5, e.g. with an 1500 byte
MTU and an average per-SSRC sum of RTCP packets of 240 bytes, the MTU
will fit 6 packets. If the receiver end-point has a single SSRC and
all other endpoints fill their MTU fully, the factor will be close to
6. If the RTCP configuration is such that the transmission interval
is bandwidth limited, rather than any type of minimal interval
limitation (Tmin or T_RR_INT), then the other end-points will likely
time out this SSRC due to it using an regular RTCP interval is more
than 5 times the rest of the endpoints.
5.3.2. Scheduling RTCP with Multiple Reporting SSRCs
When implementing RTCP packet scheduling for cases where multiple
reporting SSRCs are aggregating their RTCP packets in the same
compound packet there are a number of challenges. First of all, we
have the goal of not changing the general properties of the RTCP
packet transmissions, which include the general inter-packet
distribution, and the behavior for dealing with flash joins as well
as other dynamic events.
The below specified mechanism deals with:
o That one can't have a-priori knowledge about which RTCP packets
are to be sent, or their size, prior to generating the packets.
In which case, the time from generation to transmission ought to
be as short as possible to minimize the information that becomes
stale.
o That one has an MTU limit, that one ought to avoid exceeding, as
that requires lower-layer fragmentation (e.g., IP fragmentation)
which impacts the packets' probability of reaching the
receiver(s).
Schedule all the endpoint's local SSRCs individually for transmission
using the regular calculation of Tn for the profile being used. Each
time a SSRC's Tn timer expires, do the regular reconsideration. If
the reconsideration indictes that an RTCP packet is to be sent:
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1. Consider if an additional SSRC can be added. That consideration
is done by picking the SSRC which has the Tn value closest in
time to now (Tc).
2. Calculate how much space for RTCP packets would be needed to add
that SSRC.
3. If the considered SSRC's RTCP Packets fit within the lower layer
datagram's Maximum Transmission Unit, taking the necessary
protocol headers into account and the consumed space by prior
SSRCs, then add that SSRC's RTCP packets to the compound packet
and go again to Step 1.
4. If the considered SSRC's RTCP Packets will not fit within the
compound packet, then transmit the generated compound packet.
5. Update the RTCP Parameters for each SSRC that has been included
in the sent RTCP packet. The Tp value for each SSRC MUST be
updated as follows:
For the first SSRC: As this SSRC was the one that was
reconsidered the tp value is set to the tc as defined in RTP
[RFC3550].
For any additional SSRC: The tp value SHALL be set to the
transmission time this SSRC would have had it not been
aggregated and given the current existing session context.
This value is derived by taking this SSRC's Tn value and
performing reconisderation and updating tn until tp + T <= tn.
Then set tp to this tn value.
6. For the sent SSRCs calculate new tn values based on the updated
parameters and reschedule the timers.
Reverse reconsideration needs to be performed as specified in RTP
[RFC3550]. It is important to note that under the above algorithm
when performing reconsideration, the value of tp can actually be
larger than tc. However, that still has the desired effect of
proportionally pulling the tp value towards tc (as well as tn) as the
group size shrinks in direct proportion the reduced group size.
The above algorithm has been shown in simulations to maintain the
inter-RTCP-packet transmission distribution for the SSRCs and consume
the same amount of bandwidth as non-aggregated packets in RTP
sessions with static sets of participants. With this algorithm the
actual transmission interval for any SSRC triggering an RTCP compound
packet transmission is following the regular transmission rules. It
also handles the cases where the number of SSRCs that can be included
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in an aggregated packet varies. An SSRC that previously was
aggregated and fails to fit in a packet still has its own
transmission scheduled according to normal rules. Thus, it will
trigger a transmission in due time, or the SSRC will be included in
another aggregate.
The algorithm's behavior under SSRC group size changes is under
investigation. However, it is expected to be well behaved based on
the following analyses.
RTP sessions where the number of SSRC are growing: When the group
size is growing, the Td values grow in proportion to the number of
new SSRCs in the group. The reconsideration when the timer for
the tn expires, that SSRC will reconsider the transmission and
with a certain probability reschedule the tn timer. This part of
the reconsideration algorithm is only impacted by the above
algorithm by having tp values that are in the future instead of
set to the time of the actual last transmission at the time of
updating tp. Thus the scheduling causes in worst case a plateau
effect for that SSRC. That effect depends on how far into the
future tp can advance.
RTP sessions where the number of SSRC are shrinking: When the group
shrinks, reverse reconsideration moves the tp and tn values
towards tc proportionally to the number of SSRCs that leave the
session compared to the total number of participants when they
left. Thus the also group size reductions need to be handled.
In general the potential issue that might exist depends on how far
into the future the tp value can drift compared to the actual packet
transmissions that occur. That drift can only occur for an SSRC that
never is the trigger for RTCP packet transmission and always gets
aggregated and where the calculcated packet transmission interval
randomly occurs so that tn - tp for this SSRC is on average larger
than the ones that gets transmitted.
5.4. RTP/AVPF Feedback Packets
This section discusses the transmission of RTP/AVPF feedback packets
when the transmitting endpoint has multiple SSRCs.
5.4.1. The SSRC Used
When an RTP endpoint has multiple SSRCs, it can make certain choices
on which SSRC to use as the source of an RTCP Feedback Packet. This
sub-section discusses some considerations of this.
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o The media type of the media the SSRC transmits is actually not a
relevant factor when considering if an SSRC can transmit a
particular Feedback message.
o Feedback messages which are Notification or Indications regarding
the endpoint's own RTP packet stream need to be sent using the
SSRC transmitting the media it relates to. This also includes
notifications that are related to a received request or command.
o The SSRC used to send feedback messages has a role as either a
media sender or a receiver. The bandwidth pools can be different
for SSRCs that are senders and receivers. Thus feedback messages
that expect to be more frequent can be sent from an SSRC that has
the better possibility of sending frequent RTCP compound packets
or reduced size packets. This also affects the consideration if
the SSRC can be used in immediate mode or not.
o Some Feedback Types requires consistency in the sender. For
example TMMBR, if one sets a limitation, the same SSRC needs to be
the one that increases it. Others can simply benefit from having
this property.
Note that the source of the feedback RTCP packet does not need to be
any of the sources (SSRC) including SR/RR packets in a compound
packet. For Reduced-Size RTCP [RFC5506] the aggregation of feedback
messages from multiple sources are not limited, beyond the
consideration in Section 4.2.2 of [RFC5506].
5.4.2. Scheduling a Feedback Packet
When an SSRC has a need to transmit a feedback packet in early mode
it follows the scheduling rules defined in Section 3.5 in RTP/AVPF
[RFC4585]. When following these rules the following clarifications
need to be taken into account:
o That a session is considered to be point-to-point or multiparty
not based on the number of SSRCs, but the number of endpoints
directly seen in the RTP session by the endpoint. tbd: Clarify
what is considered to "see" an endpoint?
o Note that when checking if there is already a scheduled compound
RTCP packet containing feedback messages (Step 2 in
Section 3.5.2), that check is done considering all local SSRCs.
TBD: The above does not allow an SSRC that is unable to send either
an early or regular RTCP packet with the feedback message within the
T_max_fb_delay to trigger another SSRC to send an early packet to
which it could piggyback. Nor does it allow feedback to piggyback on
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even regular RTCP packet transmissions that occur within
T_max_fb_delay. A question is if either of these behaviours ought to
be allowed.
The latter appears simple and straight forward. Instead of
discarding a FB message in step 4a: alternative 2, one could place
such messages in a cache with a discard time equal to T_max_fb_delay,
and in case any of the SSRCs schedule an RTCP packet for transmission
within that time, it includes this message.
The former case can have more widespread impact on the application,
and possibly also on the RTCP bandwidth consumption as it allows for
more massive bursts of RTCP packets. Still, on a time scale of a
regular reporting interval, it ough to have no effect on the RTCP
bandwidth as the extra feedback messages increase the avg_rtcp_size.
6. RTCP Considerations for Streams with Disparate Rates
It is possible for a single RTP session to carry streams of greatly
differing bandwidth. There are two scenarios where this can occur.
The first is when a single RTP session carries multiple flows of the
same media type, but with very different quality; for example a video
switching multi-point conference unit might send a full rate high-
definition video stream of the active speaker but only thumbnails for
the other participants, all sent in a single RTP session. The second
scenarios occurs when audio and video flows are sent in a single RTP
session, as discussed in [I-D.ietf-avtcore-multi-media-rtp-session].
An RTP session has a single set of parameters that configure the
session bandwidth, the RTCP sender and receiver fractions (e.g., via
the SDP "b=RR:" and "b=RS:" lines), and the parameters of the RTP/
AVPF profile [RFC4585] (e.g., trr-int) if that profile (or its secure
extension, RTP/SAVPF [RFC5124]) is used. As a consequence, the RTCP
reporting interval will be the same for every SSRC in an RTP session.
This uniform RTCP reporting interval can result in RTCP reports being
sent more often than is considered desirable for a particular media
type. For example, if an audio flow is multiplexed with a high
quality video flow where the session bandwidth is configured to match
the video bandwidth, this can result in the RTCP packets having a
greater bandwidth allocation than the audio data rate. If the
reduced minimum RTCP interval described in Section 6.2 of [RFC3550]
is used in the session, which might be appropriate for video where
rapid feedback is wanted, the audio sources could be expected to send
RTCP packets more often than they send audio data packets. This is
most likely undesirable, and while the mismatch can be reduced
through careful tuning of the RTCP parameters, particularly trr_int
in RTP/AVPF sessions, it is inherent in the design of the RTCP timing
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rules, and affects all RTP sessions containing flows with mismatched
bandwidth.
Having multiple media types in one RTP session also results in more
SSRCs being present in this RTP session. This increasing the amount
of cross reporting between the SSRCs. From an RTCP perspective, two
RTP sessions with half the number of SSRCs in each will be slightly
more efficient. If someone needs either the higher efficiency due to
the lesser number of SSRCs or the fact that one can't tailor RTCP
usage per media type, they need to use independent RTP sessions.
When it comes to configuring RTCP the need for regular periodic
reporting needs to be weighted against any feedback or control
messages being sent. Applications using RTP/AVPF or RTP/SAVPF are
RECOMMENDED to consider setting the trr-int parameter to a value
suitable for the application's needs, thus potentially reducing the
need for regular reporting and thus releasing more bandwidth for use
for feedback or control.
Another aspect of an RTP session with multiple media types is that
the RTCP packets, RTCP Feedback Messages, or RTCP XR metrics used
might not be applicable to all media types. Instead, all RTP/RTCP
endpoints need to correlate the media type of the SSRC being
referenced in a message or packet and only use those that apply to
that particular SSRC and its media type. Signalling solutions might
have shortcomings when it comes to indicating that a particular set
of RTCP reports or feedback messages only apply to a particular media
type within an RTP session.
6.1. Timing out SSRCs
All SSRCs used in an RTP session MUST use the same timeout behaviour
to avoid premature timeouts. This will depend on the RTP profile and
its configuration. The RTP specification provides several options
that can influence the values used when calculating the time
interval. To avoid interoperability issues when using this
specification, this document makes several clarifications to the
calculations.
For RTP/AVP, RTP/SAVP, RTP/AVPF, and RTP/SAVPF with T_rr_interval =
0, the timeout interval SHALL be calculated using a multiplier of 5,
i.e. the timeout interval becomes 5*Td. The Td calculation SHALL be
done using a Tmin value of 5 seconds, not the reduced minimal
interval even if used to calculate RTCP packet transmission
intervals. If using either the RTP/AVPF or RTP/SAVPF profiles with
T_rr_interval != 0 then the calculation as specified in Section 3.5.4
of RFC 4585 SHALL be used with a multiplier of 5, i.e. Tmin in the Td
calculation is the T_rr_interval.
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If endpoints implementing the RTP/AVP and RTP/AVPF profiles (or their
secure variants) are combined in a single RTP session, and the RTP/
AVPF endpoints use a non-zero T_rr_interval that is significantly
lower than 5 seconds, then there is a risk that the RTP/AVPF
endpoints will prematurely timeout the RTP/AVP SSRCs due to their
different RTCP timeout intervals. Conversely, if the RTP/AVPF
endpoints use a T_rr_interval that is significant larger than 5
seconds, there is a risk that the RTP/AVP endpoints will timeout the
RTP/AVPF SSRCs. If such mixed RTP profiles are used, (though this is
NOT RECOMMENDED), the RTP/AVPF session SHOULD use a non-zero
T_rr_interval that is 4 seconds.
Note: It might appear strange to use a T_rr_interval of 4 seconds.
It might be intuitive that this value ought to be 5 seconds, as
then both the RTP/AVP and RTP/AVPF would use the same timeout
period. However, considering regular RTCP transmission and their
packet intervals for RTP/AVPF its mean value will (with non-zero
T_rr_interval) be larger than T_rr_interval due to the scheduling
algorithm. Thus, to enable an equal amount of regular RTCP
transmissions in each directions between RTP/AVP and RTP/AVPF
endpoints, taking the altered timeout intervals into account, the
optimal value is around four (4), where almost four transmissions
will on average occur in each direction between the different
profile types given an otherwise good configuration of parameters
in regards to T_rr_interval. If the RTCP bandwidth paramters are
selected so that Td based on bandwidth is close to 4, i.e. close
to T_rr_interval the risk increases that RTP/AVPF SSRCs will be
timed out by RTP/AVP endpoints, as the RTP/AVPF SSRC might only
manage two transmissions in the timeout period.
6.2. Tuning RTCP transmissions
This sub-section discusses what tuning can be done to reduce the
downsides of the shared RTCP packet intervals. First, it is
considered what possibilites exist for the RTP/AVP [RFC3551] profile,
then what additional tools are provided by RTP/AVPF [RFC4585].
6.2.1. RTP/AVP and RTP/SAVP
When using the RTP/AVP or RTP/SAVP profiles the tuning one can do is
very limited. The controls one has are limited to the RTCP bandwidth
values and whether the minimum RTCP interval is scaled according to
the bandwidth. As the scheduling algorithm includes both random
factors and reconsideration, one can't simply calculate the expected
average transmission interval using the formula for Td. But it does
indicate the important factors affecting the transmission interval,
namely the RTCP bandwidth available for the role (Active Sender or
Participant), the average RTCP packet size, and the number of SSRCs
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classified in the relevant role. Note that if the ratio of senders
to total number of session participants is larger than the ratio of
RTCP bandwidth for senders in relation to the total RTCP bandwidth,
then senders and receivers are treated together.
Let's start with some basic observations:
a. Unless the scaled minimum RTCP interval is used, then Td prior to
randomization and reconsideration can never be less than 5
seconds (assuming default Tmin of 5 seconds).
b. If the scaled minimum RTCP interval is used, Td can become as low
as 360 divided by RTP Session bandwidth in kilobits. In SDP the
RTP session bandwidth is signalled using b=AS. An RTP Session
bandwidth of 72 kbps results in Tmin being 5 seconds. An RTP
session bandwidth of 360 kbps of course gives a Tmin of 1 second,
and to achieve a Tmin equal to once every frame for a 25 Hz video
stream requires an RTP session bandwidth of 9 Mbps! (The use of
the RTP/AVPF or RTP/SAVPF profile allows a smaller Tmin, and
hence more frequent RTCP reports, as discussed below).
c. Let's calculate the number (n) of SSRCs in the RTP session that
5% of the session bandwidth can support to yield a Td value equal
to Tmin with minimal scaling. For this calculation we have to
make two assumptions. The first is that we will consider most or
all SSRC being senders, resulting in everyone sharing the
available bandwidth. Secondly we will select an average RTCP
packet size. This packet will consist of an SR, containing (n-1)
report blocks up to 31 report blocks, and an SDES item with at
least a CNAME (17 bytes in size) in it. Such a basic packet will
be 800 bytes for n>=32. With these parameters, and as the
bandwidth goes up the time interval is proportionally decreased
(due to minimal scaling), thus all the example bandwidths 72
kbps, 360 kbps and 9 Mbps all support 9 SSRCs.
d. The actual transmission interval for a Td value is [0.5*Td/
1.21828,1.5*Td/1.21828], which means that for Td = 5 seconds, the
interval is actually [2.052,6.156] and the distribution is not
uniform, but rather exponentially-increasing. The probability
for sending at time X, given it is within the interval, is
probability of picking X in the interval times the probability to
randomly picking a number that is <=X within the interval with an
uniform probability distribution. This results in that the
majority of the probability mass is above the Td value.
To conclude, with RTP/AVP and RTP/SAVP the key limitation for small
unicast sessions is going to be the Tmin value. Thus the RTP session
bandwidth configured in RTCP has to be sufficiently high to reach the
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reporting goals the application has following the rules for the
scaled minimal RTCP interval.
6.2.2. RT/AVPF and RTP/SAVPF
When using RTP/AVPF or RTP/SAVPF we get a quite powerful additional
tool, the setting of the T_rr_interval which has several effects on
the RTCP reporting. First of all as Tmin is set to 0 after the
initial transmission, the regular reporting interval is instead
determined by the regular bandwidth based calculation and the
T_rr_interval. This has the effect that we are no longer restricted
by the minimal interval or even the scaling rule for the minimal
rule. Instead the RTCP bandwidth and the T_rr_interval are the
governing factors.
Now it also becomes important to separate between the application's
need for regular reports and RTCP feedback packet types. In both
regular RTCP mode, as in Early RTCP Mode, the usage of the
T_rr_interval prevents regular RTCP packets, i.e. packets without any
Feedback packets, to be sent more often than T_rr_interval. This
value is applied to prevent any regular RTCP packet to be sent less
than T_rr_interval times a uniformly distributed random value from
the interval [0.5,1.5] after the previous regular packet packet. The
random value recalculated after each regular RTCP packet
transmission.
So applications that have a use for feedback packets for some media
streams, for example video streams, but don't want frequent regular
reporting for audio, could configure the T_rr_interval to a value so
that the regular reporting for both audio and video is at a level
that is considered acceptable for the audio. They could then use
feedback packets, which will include RTCP SR/RR packets, unless
reduced-size RTCP feedback packets [RFC5506] are used, and can
include other report information in addition to the feedback packet
that needs to be sent. That way the available RTCP bandwidth can be
focused for the use which provides the most utility for the
application.
Using T_rr_interval still requires one to determine suitable values
for the RTCP bandwidth value, in fact it might make it even more
important, as this is more likely to affect the RTCP behaviour and
performance than when using RTP/AVP, as there are fewer limitations
affecting the RTCP transmission.
When using T_rr_interval, i.e. having it be non zero, there are
configurations that have to be avoided. If the resulting Td value is
smaller but close to T_rr_interval then the interval in which the
actual regular RTCP packet transmission falls into becomes very
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large, from 0.5 times T_rr_interval up to 2.73 times the
T_rr_interval. Therefore for configuration where one intends to have
Td smaller than T_rr_interval, then Td is RECOMMENDED to be targeted
at values less than 1/4th of T_rr_interval which results in that the
range becomes [0.5*T_rr_interval, 1.81*T_rr_interval].
With RTP/AVPF, using a T_rr_interval of 0 or with another low value
significantly lower than Td still has utility, and different
behaviour compared to RTP/AVP. This avoids the Tmin limitations of
RTP/AVP, thus allowing more frequent regular RTCP reporting. In fact
this will result that the RTCP traffic becomes as high as the
configured values.
(tbd: a future version of this memo will include examples of how to
choose RTCP parameters for common scenarios)
There exists no method within the specification for using different
regular RTCP reporting intervals depending on the media type or
individual media stream.
7. Security Considerations
In the secure RTP protocol (SRTP) [RFC3711], the cryptographic
context of a compound SRTCP packet is the SSRC of the sender of the
first RTCP (sub-)packet. This could matter in some cases, especially
for keying mechanisms such as Mikey [RFC3830] which allow use of per-
SSRC keying.
Other than that, the standard security considerations of RTP apply;
sending multiple media streams from a single endpoint does not appear
to have different security consequences than sending the same number
of streams.
8. Open Issues
At this stage this document contains a number of open issues. The
below list tries to summarize the issues:
1. Do we need to provide a recommendation for unicast session
joiners with many sources to not use 0 initial minimal interval
from bit-rate burst perspective?
2. RTCP parameters for common scenarios in Section 6.2?
3. Is scheduling algorithm working well with dynamic changes?
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4. Are the scheduling algorithm changes impacting previous
implementations in such a way that the report aggregation has to
be agreed on, and thus needs to be considered as an optimization?
5. An open question is if any improvements or clarifications ought
to be allowed regarding FB message scheduling in multi-SSRC
endpoints.
9. IANA Considerations
No IANA actions needed.
10. References
10.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC3550] Schulzrinne, H., Casner, S., Frederick, R., and V.
Jacobson, "RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time
Applications", STD 64, RFC 3550, July 2003.
[RFC3711] Baugher, M., McGrew, D., Naslund, M., Carrara, E., and K.
Norrman, "The Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP)",
RFC 3711, March 2004.
[RFC4585] Ott, J., Wenger, S., Sato, N., Burmeister, C., and J. Rey,
"Extended RTP Profile for Real-time Transport Control
Protocol (RTCP)-Based Feedback (RTP/AVPF)", RFC 4585, July
2006.
[RFC5124] Ott, J. and E. Carrara, "Extended Secure RTP Profile for
Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP)-Based Feedback
(RTP/SAVPF)", RFC 5124, February 2008.
[RFC5506] Johansson, I. and M. Westerlund, "Support for Reduced-Size
Real-Time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP): Opportunities
and Consequences", RFC 5506, April 2009.
10.2. Informative References
[I-D.ietf-avtcore-multi-media-rtp-session]
Westerlund, M., Perkins, C., and J. Lennox, "Sending
Multiple Types of Media in a Single RTP Session", draft-
ietf-avtcore-multi-media-rtp-session-04 (work in
progress), January 2014.
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[I-D.ietf-avtcore-rtp-multi-stream-optimisation]
Lennox, J., Westerlund, M., Wu, W., and C. Perkins,
"Sending Multiple Media Streams in a Single RTP Session:
Grouping RTCP Reception Statistics and Other Feedback",
draft-ietf-avtcore-rtp-multi-stream-optimisation-01 (work
in progress), January 2014.
[I-D.ietf-avtcore-rtp-topologies-update]
Westerlund, M. and S. Wenger, "RTP Topologies", draft-
ietf-avtcore-rtp-topologies-update-01 (work in progress),
October 2013.
[I-D.ietf-clue-framework]
Duckworth, M., Pepperell, A., and S. Wenger, "Framework
for Telepresence Multi-Streams", draft-ietf-clue-
framework-14 (work in progress), February 2014.
[I-D.ietf-mmusic-sdp-bundle-negotiation]
Holmberg, C., Alvestrand, H., and C. Jennings,
"Multiplexing Negotiation Using Session Description
Protocol (SDP) Port Numbers", draft-ietf-mmusic-sdp-
bundle-negotiation-05 (work in progress), October 2013.
[RFC3551] Schulzrinne, H. and S. Casner, "RTP Profile for Audio and
Video Conferences with Minimal Control", STD 65, RFC 3551,
July 2003.
[RFC3611] Friedman, T., Caceres, R., and A. Clark, "RTP Control
Protocol Extended Reports (RTCP XR)", RFC 3611, November
2003.
[RFC3830] Arkko, J., Carrara, E., Lindholm, F., Naslund, M., and K.
Norrman, "MIKEY: Multimedia Internet KEYing", RFC 3830,
August 2004.
[RFC4588] Rey, J., Leon, D., Miyazaki, A., Varsa, V., and R.
Hakenberg, "RTP Retransmission Payload Format", RFC 4588,
July 2006.
[RFC6190] Wenger, S., Wang, Y., Schierl, T., and A. Eleftheriadis,
"RTP Payload Format for Scalable Video Coding", RFC 6190,
May 2011.
Appendix A. Changes From Earlier Versions
Note to the RFC-Editor: please remove this section prior to
publication as an RFC.
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A.1. Changes From WG Draft -02
o Changed usage of Media Stream
o Added Updates RFC 4585
o Added rules for how to deal with RTCP when aggregating multiple
SSRCs report in same compound packet:
* avg_rtcp_size calcualtion
* Scheduling rules to maintain timing
o Started a section clarifying and discsussing RTP/AVPF Feedback
Packets and their scheduling.
A.2. Changes From WG Draft -01
o None, a keep-alive version
A.3. Changes From WG Draft -00
o Split the Reporting Group Extension from this draft into draft-
ietf-avtcore-rtp-multi-stream-optimization-00.
o Added RTCP tuning considerations from draft-ietf-avtcore-multi-
media-rtp-session-02.
A.4. Changes From Individual Draft -02
o Resubmitted as working group draft.
o Updated references.
A.5. Changes From Individual Draft -01
o Merged with draft-wu-avtcore-multisrc-endpoint-adver.
o Changed how Reporting Groups are indicated in RTCP, to make it
clear which source(s) is the group's reporting sources.
o Clarified the rules for when sources can be placed in the same
reporting group.
o Clarified that mixers and translators need to pass reporting group
SDES information if they are forwarding RR and SR traffic from
members of a reporting group.
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A.6. Changes From Individual Draft -00
o Added the Reporting Group semantic to explicitly indicate which
sources come from a single endpoint, rather than leaving it
implicit.
o Specified that Reporting Group semantics (as they now are) apply
to AVPF and XR, as well as to RR/SR report blocks.
o Added a description of the cascaded source-projecting mixer, along
with a calculation of its RTCP overhead if reporting groups are
not in use.
o Gave some guidance on how the flexibility of RTCP randomization
allows some freedom in RTCP multiplexing.
o Clarified the language of several of the recommendations.
o Added an open issue discussing how avg_rtcp_size ought to be
calculated for multiplexed RTCP.
o Added an open issue discussing how RTCP bandwidths are to be
chosen for sessions where source bandwidths greatly differ.
Authors' Addresses
Jonathan Lennox
Vidyo, Inc.
433 Hackensack Avenue
Seventh Floor
Hackensack, NJ 07601
US
Email: jonathan@vidyo.com
Magnus Westerlund
Ericsson
Farogatan 6
SE-164 80 Kista
Sweden
Phone: +46 10 714 82 87
Email: magnus.westerlund@ericsson.com
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Qin Wu
Huawei
101 Software Avenue, Yuhua District
Nanjing, Jiangsu 210012
China
Email: sunseawq@huawei.com
Colin Perkins
University of Glasgow
School of Computing Science
Glasgow G12 8QQ
United Kingdom
Email: csp@csperkins.org
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