Search for: All records

Adaptive bitrate (ABR) algorithms play a critical role in video streaming by making optimal bitrate decisions in dynamically changing network conditions to provide a high quality of experience (QoE) for users. However, most existing ABRs suffer from limitations such as predefined rules and incorrect assumptions about streaming parameters. They often prioritize higher bitrates and ignore the corresponding energy footprint, resulting in increased energy consumption, especially for mobile device users. Additionally, most ABR algorithms do not consider perceived quality, leading to suboptimal user experience. This article proposes a novel ABR scheme called GreenABR+, which utilizes deep reinforcement learning to optimize energy consumption during video streaming while maintaining high user QoE. Unlike existing rule-based ABR algorithms, GreenABR+ makes no assumptions about video settings or the streaming environment. GreenABR+ model works on different video representation sets and can adapt to dynamically changing conditions in a wide range of network scenarios. Our experiments demonstrate that GreenABR+ outperforms state-of-the-art ABR algorithms by saving up to 57% in streaming energy consumption and 57% in data consumption while providing up to 25% more perceptual QoE due to up to 87% less rebuffering time and near-zero capacity violations. The generalization and dynamic adaptability make GreenABR+ a flexible solution for energy-efficient ABR optimization. 

Advancements in mobile hardware and streaming technologies enable high-quality video streaming for mobile users, but this comes at a cost: a boost in power consumption. Despite detailed studies on power consumption during acquisition, existing studies fall short of considering recent technologies and, hence, of accurately capturing video playback power consumption. This paper presents a novel method to model mobile video playback power consumption. First, we identify the major components contributing to power consumption during video playback on mobile devices. Then, we develop models for each component to estimate their power consumption. Our experimental results show that our combined model estimates power consumption with 91% mean accuracy. Furthermore, our model maintains its high accuracy on an unseen device, achieving 88% mean accuracy despite the hardware and screen heterogeneity.