The Effect of Erasure Coding on the Burstiness of Packet Loss

TL;DR

This paper introduces a mathematical model to analyze how erasure coding influences the burstiness of packet loss in IP networks, impacting real-time media quality.

Contribution

It develops a novel model linking erasure coding parameters to residual burstiness of packet loss under network conditions.

Findings

Derived expected burst length as a function of coding parameters

Quantified impact of erasure coding on loss burstiness

Provided insights for optimizing real-time media delivery

Abstract

The perceived quality of real-time media delivered over IP networks depends on both the rate and burstiness of packet loss. In this paper, we develop a new mathematical model for the residual burstiness of loss under erasure coding. We derive the expected number of consecutive losses in a burst as a function of erasure coding parameters and the network loss probability assuming a Bernoulli model for network losses.