Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) is the protocol designed to handle real-time traffic on the Internet. RTP does not have a delivery mechanism (multicasting, port numbers, and so on); it must be used with UDP. RTP stands between UDP and the application program. The main contributions of RTP are timestamping, sequencing, and mixing facilities. This chapter provides knowledge of RTP and RTCP. | Chapter 28 Real-Time Traffic over the Internet CONTENTS CHARACTERISTICS RTP RTCP Figure 28-1 Real-time multimedia traffic In real-time traffic, if we ignore propagation delay, the production, transmission, and use of data takes place at the same time. Example 1 An example of non-real-time multimedia traffic is the downloading of a video from the Internet. The video has already been made; it’s a finished product. A client HTTP is used to download the video from an HTTP server and the user views the video at a later time. The production, transmission, and use all happen at different times. Figure shows this situation Figure 28-2 Non-real time multimedia traffic Example 2 Now let us consider an example of real-time multimedia traffic. Consider a video conference in which a camera is connected to a server that transmits video information as it is produced. Everything that happens at the server site can be displayed on the computer at the client site. This is both multimedia (video) and real-time traffic (production and use at the same time). Figure shows the situation. Figure 28-3 Real-time multimedia traffic CHARACTERISTICS Figure 28-4 Time relationship Figure 28-5 Jitter Jitter is introduced in real-time data by the delay between packets. Figure 28-6 Timestamp To prevent jitter, we can timestamp the packets and separate the arrival time from the playback time. Figure 28-7 Playback buffer A playback buffer is required for real-time traffic. A sequence number on each packet is required for real-time traffic. Real-time traffic needs the support of multicasting. Translation means changing the encoding of a payload to a lower quality to match the bandwidth of the receiving network. Mixing means combining several streams of traffic into one stream. TCP, with all its sophistication, is not suitable for real-time multimedia traffic because we cannot allow retransmission of packets. UDP is more suitable than TCP for real-time traffic. However, we need the services of RTP, another transport layer protocol to make up the deficiencies of UDP. RTP Figure 28-8 RTP Figure 28-9 RTP packet header format RTP uses a temporary even-numbered UDP port. RTCP Figure 28-10 RTCP message types RTCP uses an odd-numbered UDP port number that follows the port number selected for RTP. | Chapter 28 Real-Time Traffic over the Internet CONTENTS CHARACTERISTICS RTP RTCP Figure 28-1 Real-time multimedia traffic In real-time traffic, if we ignore propagation delay, the production, transmission, and use of data takes place at the same time. Example 1 An example of non-real-time multimedia traffic is the downloading of a video from the Internet. The video has already been made; it’s a finished product. A client HTTP is used to download the video from an HTTP server and the user views the video at a later time. The production, transmission, and use all happen at different times. Figure shows this situation Figure 28-2 Non-real time multimedia traffic Example 2 Now let us consider an example of real-time multimedia traffic. Consider a video conference in which a camera is connected to a server that transmits video information as it is produced. Everything that happens at the server site can be displayed on the computer at the client site. This is both multimedia .
