HiPer clouding: high performance cloud gaming

虽然云游戏在2015年已经是一个4.76亿美元的产业，并且预计到2021年将增长28%，如索尼的PlayStation Now， Valve的Steam， Ubitus的GameNow， G-Cluster和LiquidSky等实际行业产品，但它的成功比预期的要慢，主要有两个原因：首先，实现可接受的游戏质量所需的带宽相当高。例如，对于一个720p的视频分辨率，50帧/秒（对于今天的游戏标准来说相当普通，几乎是最低的），云游戏需要至少5mbps的始终可用带宽，推荐10mb。其次，云游戏对网络延迟非常敏感，这会影响游戏的互动体验。与视频点播不同，在视频播放过程中，观众甚至可以容忍几秒钟的中断和缓冲，而互动游戏对延迟非常敏感，尤其是在多人模式下。但研究表明，云游戏目前比主机游戏慢1.7倍。这是一个很难克服的挑战，因为只有70%的最终用户能够满足所需的100毫秒延迟目标。除了延迟，云游戏的高延迟变化（即抖动）还会对体验质量（QoE）产生不利影响。因此，必须考虑减少端到端延迟和抖动的新解决方案来克服这一挑战。****在这个拟议的项目中，我们将与Ubique Networks合作，专门为云游戏应用研究和开发新的软件定义网络（SDN）系统，使在未来的通信网络上提供令人满意的QoE、实时和带宽密集型云游戏成为可能。我们的目标是减少云游戏系统各层的延迟、抖动和带宽需求：在云中，在提供商和用户之间的交付网络中，以及在用户的家庭网关。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配。

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.