Guidelines for Implementing Digital Video Broadcasting - IPTV (DVB-IPTV) Application-Layer Hybrid Forward Error Correction (FEC) Protection
RFC 6683

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                          A. Begen
Request for Comments: 6683                                         Cisco
Category: Informational                                   T. Stockhammer
ISSN: 2070-1721                                           Nomor Research
                                                             August 2012

Guidelines for Implementing Digital Video Broadcasting - IPTV (DVB-IPTV)
   Application-Layer Hybrid Forward Error Correction (FEC) Protection

Abstract

   Annex E of the Digital Video Broadcasting - IPTV (DVB-IPTV) technical
   specification defines an optional Application-Layer Forward Error
   Correction (AL-FEC) protocol to protect the streaming media
   transported using RTP.  The DVB-IPTV AL-FEC protocol uses two layers
   for FEC protection.  The first (base) layer is based on the 1-D
   interleaved parity code.  The second (enhancement) layer is based on
   the Raptor code.  By offering a layered approach, the DVB-IPTV AL-FEC
   protocol offers good protection against both bursty and random packet
   losses at a cost of decent complexity.  This document describes how
   one can implement the DVB-IPTV AL-FEC protocol by using the 1-D
   interleaved parity code and Raptor code that have already been
   specified in separate documents.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
   approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6683.

Begen & Stockhammer           Informational                     [Page 1]
RFC 6683           Guidelines for DVB AL-FEC Protocol        August 2012

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2012 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
   2.  DVB-IPTV AL-FEC Specification  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     2.1.  Base-Layer FEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     2.2.  Enhancement-Layer FEC  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
     2.3.  Hybrid Decoding Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   3.  Session Description Protocol (SDP) Signaling . . . . . . . . .  8
   4.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   5.  Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   6.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     6.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     6.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.  Introduction

   In 2007, the IP Infrastructure (IPI) Technical Module (TM) of the
   Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) consortium published a technical
   specification [ETSI-TS-102-034v1.3.1] through the European
   Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
   [ETSI-TS-102-034v1.3.1] covers several areas related to the
   transmission of MPEG2 transport stream-based services over IP
   networks.

   Annex E of [ETSI-TS-102-034v1.3.1] defines an optional protocol for
   Application-Layer Forward Error Correction (AL-FEC) to protect the
   streaming media for DVB-IP services transported using RTP [RFC3550].
   In 2009, DVB updated the specification in a new revision that is
   available as [ETSI-TS-102-034v1.4.1].  Among others, some updates and
   modifications to the AL-FEC protocol have been made.  This document
   describes how one can implement the DVB-IPTV AL-FEC protocol by using
   the 1-D interleaved parity code [RFC6015] and Raptor code
   specifications [RFC6681] [RFC6682].

Begen & Stockhammer           Informational                     [Page 2]
RFC 6683           Guidelines for DVB AL-FEC Protocol        August 2012

   The DVB-IPTV AL-FEC protocol uses two layers for protection:  a base
   layer that is produced by the 1-D interleaved parity code (also
   simply referred to as "parity code" in the remainder of this