An Internet meeting tool designed for low bandwidth and unstable network conditions

1. An Internet meeting tool designed for low bandwidth and unstable network conditions by Flora Kundaeli TresorMvumbi ZafikaManzi Supervised by Hussein Suleman

2. Outline • Problem statement • General solution • Strategy • Work allocation • Audio-video conferencing • Presentation and chat • Floor control and attendee list • Conclusion

3. Problem statement • Current Internet meeting solutions • unreliable with low bandwidth • affects end user experience • Most developing countries • operate with low bandwidth • unstable network connections • unable to use these solutions

4. General solution Design and implement a meeting solution • works reliably with constraining Internet conditions • delivers acceptable user experience • graceful degradation of audio-video

5. Strategy • initially assume poor Internet conditions • prioritize audio over video • low video frame rate • pre-load all the static data • Walkie-Talkie approach • chat feature

6. Work allocation TresorMvumbi ZafikaManzi Flora Kundaeli

7. Design approach X 3

8. TresorMvumbi AUDIO-VIDEO CONFERENCING

9. Problem • with unstable connection and low bandwidth • audio: hardly audible (distortion, echo, etc.) • video: freezing and poor image quality

10. Research questions • assumed constraining networking conditions, is it possible to provide • a usable audio conferencing tool? • a usable video conferencing tool?

11. Sub-system • affect higher priority to audio stream (video bandwidth need = 10 x audio) • very low video frame rate • audio buffering • audio compression (e.g. MP3) • video compression (e.g. MPEG) • network/transport protocol: IP/UDP

12. Walkie-Talkie approach

13. Expected outcome

14. Evaluation • Simulation of a low bandwidth and unstable network • Qualitative test based on user experiment • audibility • effectiveness of video • Quantitative test • measurement of actual frame rate

15. ZafikaManzi PRESENTATION AND CHAT

16. Problem • audio and video can fail with low bandwidth • a chat facility needs to be incorporated • uploading of presentations during low bandwidth online meetings often results in the disruption of meeting procedure

17. Research questions • is it possible to build an effective text chat tool that can work with minimal bandwidth? • is the pre-loading of static data effective with low bandwidth?

18. Sub-system chat feature • provide basic text based communication presentation slide module • slides converted into images • slide images compressed • pre-loaded onto all client systems • only the ID of the current slide is sent across the network

19. Evaluation Test to determine if the text chat is effective with minimal bandwidth conditions • users will be requested to use and evaluate the chat feature Test to determine if the pre-loading of static data is effective with low bandwidth • users will be requested to upload static content and assess the effectiveness of this process

20. Expected outcome • users should be able to chat • with minimal bandwidth • when audio and video are unusable • pre-loading of static data should be effective with low bandwidth

21. Flora Kundaeli Flow control and attendee list

22. Problem • Without clear and efficient meeting procedures, meetings are • Unproductive • Waste time • Unlike face-face meetings • Low video frame rates cannot reflect peripheral cues • The above negatively affect the user’s experience

23. Research questions • Is it possible to construct a system that manages meeting procedures (presence, hand-raising, etc.) efficiently despite varying Internet conditions?

24. Sub-system • attendee list • access control and list of logged on members • floor control • coordinates current usage of shared resources • provides access to continuous multimedia data streams • enables coherency and organized meeting procedures • framework • binds the different components of the system • Aids collaboration between the different components • Note: all components are stand alone

25. Evaluation • test evaluating whether the system is able to manage meeting procedures efficiently despite varying Internet conditions • users will be required to use the system and give feedbacks in form of questionnaire • users will rank the effectiveness of the floor control mechanism • users will be requested to also comment on the sense of presence during the meeting session

26. Expected outcome • user should be able to actively participate in clear and organized meetings despite fluctuations in bandwidth • the system should maintain a clear and stable meeting procedure • the efficiency of the system should improve the user experience

27. ZafikaManzi CONCLUSION

28. Final outcome of project • An Internet meeting system that • reliably works with limited Internet conditions • Server • host meetings • more than one simultaneous meetings possible • Client • Provides a graphical user environment for participants

29. Impact of project • greatly benefit organizations in developing countries • developed countries can use it as well • experimental results helpful for future research on • Internet based meeting with minimal bandwidth

30. Project timeline

31. THANK YOU !