BALCON: BAckward loss concealment mechanism for scalable video dissemination in opportunistic networks

Opportunistic networks suffer some coarse characteristics as frequent disruptions, high loss ratios and uncertain data delivery. The transmission of video content even worsens the delivery problem because of the large size and continuous nature of the medium. Therefore, loss concealment is inducted as a part of the solution, alongside other delivery enhancement mechanisms. Loss concealment techniques are usually used Forwards, where the source must spend extra processing and transmission volume to enable the receiver to recover lost data parts. These techniques are not only associated with prolonged latencies and video encoding manipulations, but they are also sensitive to the loss pattern, which might leave the receiver in passive suspension if a key part for recovery was missing. In this work, we propose a Backward loss concealment mechanism, which allows the receiver to react to a certain amount of loss. Missing parts of the scalable video stream are compensated by a composite solution that encloses 1) video frame loss error concealment, and 2) network demands, which are initiated and cast in search for missing parts from other nodes in the network. Simulation-driven experiments prove the applicability of the backward mechanism, with a limited capability depending on the target application requirements.