FECFRAME

RFC 6363 describes a framework for using Forward Error Correction (FEC) codes to provide protection against packet loss. The framework supports applying FEC to arbitrary packet flows over unreliable transport and is primarily intended for real-time, or streaming, media. However, FECFRAME as per RFC 6363 is restricted to block FEC codes. This document updates RFC 6363 to support FEC codes based on a sliding encoding window, in addition to block FEC codes, in a backward-compatible way. During multicast/broadcast real-time content delivery, the use of sliding window codes significantly improves robustness in harsh environments, with less repair traffic and lower FEC-related added latency.

This document describes two fully specified Forward Erasure Correction (FEC) Schemes for Sliding Window Random Linear Codes (RLC), one for RLC over the Galois Field (a.k.a., Finite Field) GF(2), a second one for RLC over the Galois Field GF(2^8), each time with the possibility of controlling the code density. They can protect arbitrary media streams along the lines defined by FECFRAME extended to Sliding Window FEC Codes. These Sliding Window FEC Codes rely on an encoding window that slides over the source symbols, generating new repair symbols whenever needed. Compared to block FEC codes, these Sliding Window FEC Codes offer key advantages with real-time flows in terms of reduced FEC-related latency while often providing improved packet erasure recovery capabilities.

This document describes a fully-specified simple Forward Error Correction (FEC) scheme for Reed-Solomon codes over the finite field (also known as the Galois Field) GF(2^^m), with 2 <= m <= 16, that can be used to protect arbitrary media streams along the lines defined by FECFRAME. The Reed-Solomon codes considered have attractive properties, since they offer optimal protection against packet erasures and the source symbols are part of the encoding symbols, which can greatly simplify decoding. However, the price to pay is a limit on the maximum source block size, on the maximum number of encoding symbols, and a computational complexity higher than that of the Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes, for instance.

This document describes a fully specified simple Forward Error Correction (FEC) scheme for Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) Staircase codes that can be used to protect media streams along the lines defined by FECFRAME. These codes have many interesting properties: they are systematic codes, they perform close to ideal codes in many use-cases, and they also feature very high encoding and decoding throughputs. LDPC-Staircase codes are therefore a good solution to protect a single high bitrate source flow or to protect globally several mid-rate flows within a single FECFRAME instance. They are also a good solution whenever the processing load of a software encoder or decoder must be kept to a minimum.

This document provides a pseudo Content Delivery Protocol (CDP) to protect multiple source flows with one or more repair flows based on the Forward Error Correction (FEC) Framework and the Session Description Protocol (SDP) elements defined for the framework. The purpose of the document is not to provide a full-fledged protocol but to show how the defined framework and SDP elements can be combined together to implement a CDP. This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.

This document describes Fully-Specified Forward Error Correction (FEC) Schemes for the Raptor and RaptorQ codes and their application to reliable delivery of media streams in the context of the FEC Framework. The Raptor and RaptorQ codes are systematic codes, where a number of repair symbols are generated from a set of source symbols and sent in one or more repair flows in addition to the source symbols that are sent to the receiver(s) within a source flow. The Raptor and RaptorQ codes offer close to optimal protection against arbitrary packet losses at a low computational complexity. Six FEC Schemes are defined: two for the protection of arbitrary packet flows, two that are optimized for small source blocks, and two for the protection of a single flow that already contains a sequence number. Repair data may be sent over arbitrary datagram transport (e.g., UDP) or using RTP. [STANDARDS-TRACK]

This document specifies an RTP payload format for the Forward Error Correction (FEC) repair data produced by the Raptor FEC Schemes. Raptor FEC Schemes are specified for use with the IETF FEC Framework that supports the transport of repair data over both UDP and RTP. This document specifies the payload format that is required for the use of RTP to carry Raptor repair flows. [STANDARDS-TRACK]

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

The Forward Error Correction (FEC) Framework document (RFC 6363) defines the FEC Framework Configuration Information necessary for the FEC Framework operation. This document describes how to use signaling protocols such as the Session Announcement Protocol (SAP), the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), etc. for determining and communicating the configuration information between sender(s) and receiver(s).

This document doesn't define any new signaling protocol. This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.

This document describes a framework for using Forward Error Correction (FEC) codes with applications in public and private IP networks to provide protection against packet loss. The framework supports applying FEC to arbitrary packet flows over unreliable transport and is primarily intended for real-time, or streaming, media. This framework can be used to define Content Delivery Protocols that provide FEC for streaming media delivery or other packet flows. Content Delivery Protocols defined using this framework can support any FEC scheme (and associated FEC codes) that is compliant with various requirements defined in this document. Thus, Content Delivery Protocols can be defined that are not specific to a particular FEC scheme, and FEC schemes can be defined that are not specific to a particular Content Delivery Protocol. [STANDARDS-TRACK]

This document specifies the use of the Session Description Protocol (SDP) to describe the parameters required to signal the Forward Error Correction (FEC) Framework Configuration Information between the sender(s) and receiver(s). This document also provides examples that show the semantics for grouping multiple source and repair flows together for the applications that simultaneously use multiple instances of the FEC Framework. [STANDARDS-TRACK]

This document defines a new RTP payload format for the Forward Error Correction (FEC) that is generated by the 1-D interleaved parity code from a source media encapsulated in RTP. The 1-D interleaved parity code is a systematic code, where a number of repair symbols are generated from a set of source symbols and sent in a repair flow separate from the source flow that carries the source symbols. The 1-D interleaved parity code offers a good protection against bursty packet losses at a cost of reasonable complexity. The new payload format defined in this document should only be used (with some exceptions) as a part of the Digital Video Broadcasting-IPTV (DVB- IPTV) Application-layer FEC specification. [STANDARDS-TRACK]