In a VOIP system, where SIP is a signaling protocol , a SIP proxy never participates in the media flow, thus it is media agnostic.
SDP packets describing a session with codecs , open ports , media formats etc are embedded in a SIP request such as invite .
Post a SDP Offer/Answer flow , RTP and RTCP esnsure that mediastream flow between the endpoints .
RTP is the provides end-to-end network transport functions suitable for applications transmitting real-time data, such as audio, video or simulation data, over multicast or unicast network services.
RTCP is the control protocl which provides monitoring of the data delivery, qos in a manner scalable to large multicast networks, and to provide minimal control and identification functionality.
RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol)
A protocol framework
supports use of RTP-level translators and mixers.
independent of the underlying transport and network layers.
does not address resource reservation
does not guarantee quality-of-service for real-time services.
services like payload type identification, sequence numbering, timestamping and delivery monitoring.
The sequence numbers included in RTP allow the receiver to reconstruct the sender’s packet sequence,
Usage :
Multimedia Multi particpant conferences
Storage of continuous data
Interactive distributed simulation
active badge, control and measurement applications
UDP provides best-effort delivery of datagrams for point-to-point as well as for multicast communications.
SRTP (Secure Real-time Transport Protocol)
Provides confidentiality, message authentication, and replay protection for both unicast and multicast RTP and RTCP streams.
Security layer which resides between the RTP/RTCP application layer and the transport layer
Cryptographic context includes includes
- session key used directly in encryption/message authentication
- master key securely exchanged random bit string used to derive session keys
- other working session parameters ( master key lifetime, master key identifier and length, FEC parameters, etc)
it must be maintained by both the sender and receiver of these streams.
“Salting keys” are used to protect against pre-computation and time-memory tradeoff attacks.
To learn more about SRTP specifically visit : https://telecom.altanai.com/2018/03/16/secure-communication-with-rtp-srtp-zrtp-and-dtls/
RTP Session
In an RTP session, each particpant maintains a full, separate space of SSRC identifiers. The set of participants included in one RTP session consists of those that can receive an SSRC identifier transmitted by any one of the participants either in RTP as the SSRC or a CSRC or in RTCP.
Real-Time Transport Protocol
[Stream setup by SDP (frame 554)]
[Setup frame: 554]
[Setup Method: SDP]
10.. .... = Version: RFC 1889 Version (2)
..0. .... = Padding: False
...0 .... = Extension: False
.... 0000 = Contributing source identifiers count: 0
0... .... = Marker: False
Payload type: ITU-T G.711 PCMU (0)
Sequence number: 39644
[Extended sequence number: 39644]
Timestamp: 2256601824
Synchronization Source identifier: 0x78006c62 (2013293666)
Payload: 7efefefe7efefe7e7efefe7e7efefe7e7efefe7e7efefe7e...
Synchronization source (SSRC)
32-bit numeric SSRC identifier for source of a stream of RTP packets.
All packets from a synchronisation source form part of the same timing and sequence number space, so a receiver groups packets by synchronisation source for playback.
Binding of the SSRC identifiers is provided through RTCP.
If a participant generates multiple streams in one RTP session, for example from separate video cameras, each MUST be identified as a different SSRC.
Contributing source (CSRC)
A source of a stream of RTP packets that has contributed to the combined stream produced by an RTP mixer.
The mixer inserts a list of the SSRC identifiers of the sources , called CSRC list, that contributed to the generation of a particular packet into the RTP header of that packet.
An example application is audio conferencing where a mixer indicates all the talkers whose speech was combined to produce the outgoing packet, allowing the receiver to indicate the current talker, even though all the audio packets contain the same SSRC identifier (that of the mixer).
RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol)
network control protocol
TCP to maintain an end-to-end connection
control real-time streaming media applications such as live audio and HD video streaming
establishes a media session between RTSP end-points ( can be RTSP media servers too) and initiates RTP streams to deliver the audio and video payload from the RTSP media servers to the clients.
RTCP (Real-Time Transport Control Protocol )
Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP) defined in RFC 3550 and is used to send control packets and feedback on QoS to participants in a call along with RTP which sends actual media packets
- Periodic transmission of control packet
- Monitor data deliver on large multicast networks
- Underlying protocol must provide multiplexing of the data and control packets
- Provide feedback on the quality of the data distribution , congestion control, fault diagnosis , control of adaptive encoding
- Observer for number of participants to rate of sending packets for scaling up
- convey minimal session control information
RTCP often uses the next consecutive port as RTP
Example screenshot below 20720 for RTP
And 20721 fo RTCP
Types of RTCP packet
- SR: Sender report, for transmission and reception statistics from
participants that are active senders - RR: Receiver report, for reception statistics from participants
that are not active senders and in combination with SR for
active senders reporting on more than 31 sources - SDES: Source description items, including CNAME
- BYE: Indicates end of participation
- APP: Application-specific functions
The SR: Sender Report RTCP Packet
Sender Report RTCP PAcket
Expanced Sender Report RTCP Packet
Explanation for some attributes
- fraction lost: 8 bits size , fraction of RTP data packets from source SSRC_n lost since the previous SR or RR packet was sent
- cumulative number of packets lost: 24 bits size , total number of RTP data packets from source SSRC_n that have been lost since the beginning of reception.
- interarrival jitter: 32 bits , estimate of the statistical variance of the RTP data packet interarrival time, measured in timestamp unit
RR: Receiver Report RTCP Packet
SDES: Source Description RTCP Packet
SDES items can contain
CNAME: Canonical End-Point Identifier SDES Item
0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| CNAME=1 | length | user and domain name …
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+NAME: User Name SDES Item
0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| NAME=2 | length | common name of source …
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+EMAIL: Electronic Mail Address SDES Item
0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| EMAIL=3 | length | email address of source …
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+PHONE: Phone Number SDES Item
0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| PHONE=4 | length | phone number of source …
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+LOC: Geographic User Location SDES Item
0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| LOC=5 | length | geographic location of site …
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+TOOL: Application or Tool Name SDES Item
0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| TOOL=6 | length |name/version of source appl. …
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+NOTE: Notice/Status SDES Item
0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| NOTE=7 | length | note about the source …
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+PRIV: Private Extensions SDES Item
0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | PRIV=8 | length | prefix length |prefix string... +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ ... | value string ... +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+BYE: Goodbye RTCP Packet
APP: Application-Defined RTCP Packet
Intended for experimental use
Instance of RTCP sender and receiver reports on transmission and reception statistics
Real-time Transport Control Protocol (Receiver Report)
[Stream setup by SDP (frame 4)]
[Setup frame: 4]
[Setup Method: SDP]
10.. .... = Version: RFC 1889 Version (2)
..0. .... = Padding: False
...0 0001 = Reception report count: 1
Packet type: Receiver Report (201)
Length: 7 (32 bytes)
Sender SSRC: 0x796dd0d6 (2037240022)
Source 1
Identifier: 0x00000000 (0)
SSRC contents
Fraction lost: 0 / 256
Cumulative number of packets lost: 1
Extended highest sequence number received: 6534
Sequence number cycles count: 0
Highest sequence number received: 6534
Interarrival jitter: 0
Last SR timestamp: 0 (0x00000000)
Delay since last SR timestamp: 0 (0 milliseconds)
Real-time Transport Control Protocol (Source description)
[Stream setup by SDP (frame 4)]
[Setup frame: 4]
[Setup Method: SDP]
10.. .... = Version: RFC 1889 Version (2)
..0. .... = Padding: False
...0 0001 = Source count: 1
Packet type: Source description (202)
Length: 6 (28 bytes)
Chunk 1, SSRC/CSRC 0x796DD0D6
Identifier: 0x796dd0d6 (2037240022)
SDES items
Type: CNAME (user and domain) (1)
Length: 8
Text: 796dd0d6
Type: NOTE (note about source) (7)
Length: 5
Text: telecomorg
Type: END (0)
Extended RTP Profile for Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP)-Based Feedback (RTP/AVPF)
RTP provides continuous feedback about the overall reception quality from all receivers — thereby allowing the sender(s) in the mid-term to adapt their coding scheme and transmission behaviour to the observed network quality of service (QoS). And also perform
RTP makes no provision for timely feedback that would allow a sender to repair the media stream immediately: through retransmissions, retroactive Forward Error Correction (FEC) control, or media-specific mechanisms for some video codecs, such as reference picture selection.
Components of RTCP based feedback
- Status reports contained in sender report (SR)/received report (RR) packet transmitted at regular intervals . Can also contain SDES
- FB ( Feedback ) messages . Indicate loss or reception of particular pieces of a media stream
Types of RTCP Feedback packet
Minimal compound RTCP feedback packet
minimize the size of the RTCP packet transmitted to convey feedback
maximize the frequency at which feedback can be provided
MUST contain only the mandatory information :
- encryption prefix if necessary,
- exactly one RR or SR,
- exactly one SDES with only the CNAME item present, and
- FB message(s)
Full compound RTCP feedback packet
MAY contain any additional number of RTCP packet
RTCP operation modes
- Immediate Feedback mode
- Early RTCP mode
- Regular RTCP Mode
The Application specific feedback threshold is a function of a number of parameters including (but not necessarily limited to):
- type of feedback used (e.g., ACK vs. NACK),
- bandwidth,
- packet rate,
- packet loss
- probability and distribution,
- media type,
- codec, and
- (worst case or observed) frequency of events to report (e.g., frame received, packet lost).
To read on SRTP session with RTP/SAVP and crypto attributes , read https://telecom.altanai.com/2018/03/16/secure-communication-with-rtp-srtp-zrtp-and-dtls/
Conference streaming
Simulcast
client encodes the same audio/video stream twice in different resolutions and bitrates and sending these to a router who then decides who receives which of the streams.
Multicast Audio Conference
Assume obtaining a multicast group address and pair of ports. One port is used for audio data, and the other is used for control (RTCP) packets.
The audio conferencing application used by each conference participant sends audio data in small chunks of ms duration.
Each chunk of audio data is preceded by an RTP header; RTP header and data are in turn contained in a UDP packet.
The RTP header indicates what type of audio encoding (such as PCM, ADPCM or LPC) is contained in each packet so that senders can change the encoding during a conference, for example, to accommodate a new participant that is connected through a low-bandwidth link or react to indications of network congestion.
Every packet networks, occasionally loses and reorders packets and delays them by variable amounts of time. Thus RTP header contains timing information and a sequence number that allow the receivers to reconstruct the timing produced by the source.
The sequence number can also be used by the receiver to estimate how many packets are being lost.
For QoS, each instance of the audio application in the conference periodically multicasts a reception report plus the name of its user on the RTCP(control) port. The reception report indicates how well the current speaker is being received and may be used to control adaptive encodings. In addition to the user name, other identifying information may also be included subject to control bandwidth limits.
A site sends the RTCP BYE packet when it leaves the conference.
Audio and Video Conference
Audio and video media are transmitted as separate RTP sessions, separate RTP and RTCP packets are transmitted for each medium using two different UDP port pairs and/or multicast addresses. There is no direct coupling at the RTP level between the audio and video sessions, except that a user participating in both sessions should use the same distinguished (canonical) name in the RTCP packets for both so that the sessions can be associated.
Synchronized playback of a source’s audio and video is achieved using timing information carried in the RTCP packets
Layered Encodings
In conflicting bandwidth requirements of heterogeneous receivers, Multimedia applications should be able to adjust the transmission rate to match the capacity of the receiver or to adapt to network congestion.
Rate-adaptation should be done by a layered encoding with a layered transmission system.
In the context of RTP over IP multicast, the source can stripe the progressive layers of a hierarchically represented signal across multiple RTP sessions each carried on its own multicast group. Receivers can then adapt to network heterogeneity and control their reception bandwidth by joining only the appropriate subset of the multicast groups.
Mixers , Translators and Monitors
Mixer
An intermediate system that receives RTP packets from one or more sources, possibly changes the data format, combines the packets in some manner and then forwards a new RTP packet.
Example of Mixer for hi-speed to low-speed packet stream conversion . In conference cases where few participants are connected through a low-speed link where other have hi-speed link, instead of forcing lower-bandwidth, reduced-quality audio encoding for all, an RTP-level relay called a mixer may be placed near the low-bandwidth area.
This mixer resynchronises incoming audio packets to reconstruct the constant 20 ms spacing generated by the sender, mixes these reconstructed audio streams into a single stream, translates the audio encoding to a lower-bandwidth one and forwards the lower-bandwidth packet stream across the low-speed links.
All data packets originating from a mixer will be identified as having the mixer as their synchronization source.
The RTP header includes a means for mixers to identify the sources that contributed to a mixed packet so that correct talker indication can be provided at the receivers.
Translator
An intermediate system that forwards RTP packets with their synchronization source identifier intact.
Examples of translators include devices that convert encodings without mixing, replicators from multicast to unicast, and application-level filters in firewalls.
Tranasltor for Firewall Limiting IP packet pass
Some of the intended participants in the audio conference may be connected with high bandwidth links but might not be directly reachable via IP multicast, for reasons such as being behind an application-level firewall that will not let any IP packets pass. For these sites, mixing may not be necessary, in which case another type of RTP-level relay called a translator may be used.
Two translators are installed, one on either side of the firewall, with the outside one funneling all multicast packets received through asecure connection to the translator inside the firewall. The translator inside the firewall sends them again as multicast packets to a multicast group restricted to the site’s internal network.
Other cases :
video mixers can scales the images of individual people in separate video streams and composites them into one video stream to simulate a group scene.
Translator usage when connection of a group of hosts speaking only IP/UDP to a group of hosts that understand only ST-II, packet-by-packet encoding translation of video streams from individual sources without resynchronization or mixing.
Monitor
An application that receives RTCP packets sent by participants in an RTP session, in particular the reception reports, and estimates the current quality of service for distribution monitoring, fault diagnosis and long-term statistics.
Layered Encodings
In conflicting bandwidth requirements of heterogeneous receivers, Multimedia applications should be able to adjust the transmission rate to match the capacity of the receiver or to adapt to network congestion.
Rate-adaptation should be done by a layered encoding with a layered transmission system.
In the context of RTP over IP multicast, the source can stripe the progressive layers of a hierarchically represented signal across multiple RTP sessions each carried on its own multicast group. Receivers can then adapt to network heterogeneity and control their reception bandwidth by joining only the appropriate subset of the multicast groups.
RTP Session
In an RTP session, each particpant maintains a full, separate space of SSRC identifiers. The set of participants included in one RTP session consists of those that can receive an SSRC identifier transmitted by any one of the participants either in RTP as the SSRC or a CSRC or in RTCP.
Real-Time Transport Protocol
[Stream setup by SDP (frame 554)]
[Setup frame: 554]
[Setup Method: SDP]
10.. .... = Version: RFC 1889 Version (2)
..0. .... = Padding: False
...0 .... = Extension: False
.... 0000 = Contributing source identifiers count: 0
0... .... = Marker: False
Payload type: ITU-T G.711 PCMU (0)
Sequence number: 39644
[Extended sequence number: 39644]
Timestamp: 2256601824
Synchronization Source identifier: 0x78006c62 (2013293666)
Payload: 7efefefe7efefe7e7efefe7e7efefe7e7efefe7e7efefe7e...
Synchronization source (SSRC)
32-bit numeric SSRC identifier for source of a stream of RTP packets.
All packets from a synchronization source form part of the same timing and sequence number space, so a receiver groups packets by synchronization source for playback.
the binding of the SSRC identifiers is provided through RTCP.
If a participant generates multiple streams in one RTP session, for example from separate video cameras, each MUST be identified as a different SSRC.
Contributing source (CSRC)
A source of a stream of RTP packets that has contributed to the combined stream produced by an RTP mixer.
The mixer inserts a list of the SSRC identifiers of the sources , called CSRC list, that contributed to the generation of a particular packet into the RTP header of that packet. An example application is audio conferencing where a mixer indicates all the talkers whose speech was combined to produce the outgoing packet, allowing the receiver to indicate the current talker, even though all the audio packets contain the same SSRC identifier (that of the mixer).
Multiplexing RTP Sessions
In RTP, multiplexing is provided by the destination transport address (network address and port number) which is different for each RTP session ( seprate for audio and video ). This helps in cases where there is chaneg in encodings , change of clockrates , detection of packet loss suffered and RTCP reporting .
Moreover RTP mixer would not be able to combine interleaved streams of incompatible media into one stream.
Interleaving packets with different RTP media types but using the same SSRC would introduce several problems.
But multiplexing multiple related sources of the same medium in one RTP session using different SSRC values is the norm for multicast sessions.
REMB ( Receiver Estimated Maximum Bitrate)
RTCP message used to provide bandwidth estimation in order to avoid creating congestion in the network.
support for this message is negotiated in the Offer/Answer SDP Exchange.
contains total estimated available bitrate on the path to the receiving side of this RTP session (in mantissa + exponent format).
used by sender to configure the maximum bitrate of the video encoding.
also notify the available bandwidth in the network and by media servers to limit the amount of bitrate the sender is allowed to send.
In Chrome it is deprecated in favor of the new sender side bandwidth estimation based on RTCP Transport Feedback messages.
Session Description Protocol (SDP) Capability Negotiation
negotiate use of one out of several possible transport protocols. The offerer uses the expected least-common-denominator (plain RTP) as the actual configuration, and the alternative transport protocols as the potential configurations.
m=audio 53456 RTP/AVP 0 18
a=tcap:1 RTP/SAVPF RTP/SAVP RTP/AVPF
plain RTP (RTP/AVP)
Secure RTP (RTP/SAVP)
RTP with RTCP-based feedback (RTP/AVPF)
Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP)-Based Feedback (RTP/SAVPF)
Adaptive bitrate control
Adapt the audio and video codec bitrates to the available bandwidth, and hence optimize audio & video quality
For video, since resolution is chosen at the start only , encoder use bitrate and frame-rate attributes only during runtime to adapt
RTCP packet called TMMBR (Temporary Maximum Media Stream Bit Rate Request) is sent to the remote client
References:
- RFC 3550 – RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications
- RFC 4585 Extended RTP Profile for Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP)-Based Feedback (RTP/AVPF)
- RFC 3711 Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP)
