69494 - MULTIMEDIA SERVICES AND APPLICATIONS M

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course, the student will have knowledge of the main mechanisms and techniques for efficiently represent, transmit and manage multimedia contents by focusing on the main standards for voice, audio, image, video compression, on multimedia communication and networking protocols (VoIP, RTP), multimedia content distribution, cloud computing and multimedia services.

Course contents

• Notes on Information Theory and Source Coding: Definition of Information, Entropy, Lossless and Lossy Coding;
• Image Compression: Image representations, JPEG
• Video Compression: Motion Compensation Techniques, MPEG-2, H.264 (aka AVC), H.265 (aka HEVC)
• Audio Compression: Basic of Digital Audio, Waveform Codecs, Perceptive Coding (Vocoders, MPEG Audio (MP3))
  
• Multimedia Protocols: QoS management in IP Networks (DiffServ, IntServ), QoS for voice services; QoS for streaming services; Media Transport (RTP/RTCP), Session Description Protocol (SDP), Multimedia Broadcasting: MPEG Transport Stream, MPEG Program Stream
• Multimedia Streaming Services: Technologies (Caching, Content Distribution Networks, Multicast, Adaptive HTTP Streaming) and Architectures (IPTV, Over the Top Services)
• Multimedia Interactive Services: VoIP (SIP, Mobile VoIP, VoLTE, IP Multmiedia Subsystem), WebRTC
• Multimedia and Cloud: Cloud Networking, Multimedia Cloud systems

Readings/Bibliography

• Z.-N. Li, M. S. Drew, and J. Liu, "Fundamentals of Multimedia", 2nd Edition, Springer International Publishing, 2014
• Hans W. Barz and Gregory A. Basset, "Multimedia Networks: Protocols, Design and Applications", Wiley, March 2016
• L. Sun, I.-H. Mkwawa, E. Jammeh, and E. Ifeachor, "Guide to Voice and Video over IP - For Fixed and Mobile Networks", Springer International Publishing, 2013
• J. F. Kurose, and K. W. Ross "Computer Networking: A Top-down Approach", 6th Edition, Pearson, 2013
• Additional material distributed in class

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures in classroom

Assessment methods

The assessment will be performed through a written test and an oral presentation.

The written exam will be composed of both open and closed questions with around 20 questions. The time is 90 minutes.

For the oral presentation students are organized in groups depending on their preferred macro-topic. Each group is asked to prepare a high-level (survey/tutorial style) presentation for end of April (one day will be devoted to students presentation and discussion). Each student prepares a specific presentation for the final exam discussing one single topic (e.g., one technique, one protocol, one service). During the final exam we will discuss also on the written test about possible mistakes.

The final score will be the written score + 4 points depending on the quality of the two presentations (2 point for the group presentation, 2 for the personal presentation).

Students having attended in the previous year can contact me for previous assessing methods.

Teaching tools

Use of slides during the lessons.

Office hours

See the website of Daniele Tarchi