HiPer clouding: high performance cloud gaming

虽然云游戏在2015年已经是一个4.76亿美元的行业，预计到2021年将增长28%，实际的行业产品，如索尼的PlayStation Now，Valve的Steam，Ubitus的GameNow，G-Cluster和LiquidSky，仅举几例，其成功速度慢于预期，主要原因有两个：首先，实现可接受的播放质量所需的带宽相当高。例如，仅对于50 fps的720 p视频分辨率（非常普通，几乎是当今游戏标准的最低要求），Cloud Gaming需要至少5 Mbps的始终可用带宽，建议使用10 Mb。其次，云游戏对网络延迟非常敏感，这会损害游戏的交互体验。不像视频点播，观众在视频播放期间甚至容忍长达几秒钟的中断和缓冲，交互式游戏是高度延迟敏感的，特别是在多人模式下。但研究表明，云游戏目前比其控制台游戏慢1.7倍。这是一个难以克服的挑战，因为只有70%的最终用户能够满足所需的100 ms延迟目标。除了延迟之外，云游戏的高延迟变化（称为抖动）对体验质量（QoE）有进一步的不利影响。因此，必须考虑新的解决方案，以减少端到端的延迟和抖动，以克服这一挑战。在这个拟议的项目中，我们将与Ubique Networks合作，研究和开发新的软件定义网络（SDN）系统，专门用于云游戏应用，使交付令人满意的QoE，实时和带宽密集型云游戏在未来的通信网络成为可能。我们的目标是减少云游戏系统所有层的延迟、抖动和带宽需求：云内、提供商和用户之间的交付网络内以及用户的家庭网关。预期的结果将是一个完整的框架和原型，用于优化整个云游戏系统的网络资源分布。

While Cloud Gaming was already a US$476 million industry in 2015 and is expected to rise by 28% by 2021 with actual industry products such as Sony's PlayStation Now, Valve's Steam, Ubitus's GameNow, G-Cluster, and LiquidSky, to name a few, its success has been slower than expected, due to two main reasons: first, the required bandwidth to achieve acceptable playing quality is quite high. For example, just for a 720p video resolution at 50 fps (quite ordinary and near-minimum for today's gaming standards), Cloud Gaming requires at least 5 Mbps of always-available bandwidth, with 10 Mbs recommended. Second, cloud gaming is very sensitive to network latencies which impair the interactive experience of a game. Unlike video-on-demand, where viewers tolerate even up to a few seconds of interruption and buffering during video play, an interactive game is highly delay sensitive, especially in multiplayer mode. But studies have shown that Cloud Gaming is currently 1.7 times slower than its console counterpart. This is a difficult challenge to overcome since only 70% of end-users are able to meet the 100 ms latency target required. In addition to latency, Cloud Gaming's high variation in latency, known as jitter, has further detrimental effects on Quality of Experience (QoE). Hence, new solutions to reduce the end-to-end delay and jitter must be considered to overcome this challenge.In this proposed project, we will work with Ubique Networks to study and develop new Software Defined Networking (SDN) systems specifically for Cloud Gaming applications, making possible the delivery of satisfactory QoE, real-time and bandwidth-intensive cloud games over future communication networks. Our objectives will be to reduce delay, jitter, and bandwidth needs at all layers of a Cloud Gaming system: within the cloud, within the delivery network between the provider and the user, and at the user's home gateway. The expected outcome will be a complete framework and prototype for optimizing the distribution of network resources throughout the whole Cloud Gaming system.