Content Steering: Leveraging the Computing Continuum to Support Adaptive Video Streaming

Video streaming has become one of the most used Internet applications nowadays, withnumerous leading technology companies competing for dominance in a market valued inthe billions. The delivery of high-quality streaming services requires strategic utilizationof computing resources near end-users. Emerging technologies like 6G and edge-cloudcontinuum infrastructures are being explored to meet the growing demands. These tech-nologies promise to enable fast and reliable data transfer for large data volumes, withthe edge-cloud continuum facilitating service placement mobility from central cloud datacenters to edge devices near users. However, managing seamless service mobility and pre-cise computing resource allocation for quality services remains complex. In the light ofthis, the zero-touch network concept was born. It eliminates the need for manual networkconfiguration and it is becoming popular in this context. Specifically, in video streaming,the integration of the Content Steering architecture from the Dynamic Adaptive Stream-ing over HTTP (DASH) protocol with container orchestration technologies could allowfor autonomous video streaming service placement across the computing continuum, re-ducing human involvement and optimizing computing resource use. This short courseprovides a hands-on experience with the latest technology in this domain, teaching par-ticipants about cutting-edge architectures and tools for creating and managing adaptivevideo streaming applications using the latest content steering architecture introduced inthe DASH protocol. Participants will build a small edge-cloud virtual and local testbedto explore request steering strategies for video content across the computing continuum.The course also addresses current challenges and future research opportunities in thisevolving field.