New research on ‘Harmony: An Eco-friendly Adaptive Rate Control Scheme for Video-on-Demand in Low Earth Orbit Satellite Internet’

This research was carried out by Prof Gabriel-Miro Muntean, alongside researchers from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications and Capital Normal University, Beijing.

This research paper introduces Harmony, a novel rate control approach for Video-on-Demand services over Low Earth Orbit satellite internet. Addressing the challenges of energy efficiency and user fairness in LEO's Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access systems, Harmony utilises a Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient technique to dynamically adjust transmission rates based on user feedback and system metrics. The study models the VoD process as a Partially Observable Markov Process and demonstrates Harmony's superior performance in simulations, reducing Multi-access Edge Computing traffic overhead while maintaining high Quality of Experience. 

The research also explores the non-linear relationship between transmission rate, QoE, and energy consumption in VoD services. Finally, the paper provides a detailed analysis of Harmony's convergence and adaptability to various ABR algorithms and dynamic user environments.

Read the full paper here.