ABSTRACT
Official statistics indicate that internet users all around the world watch more videos and play more games during the COVID-19 pandemic than at any time [18]. This unprecedented, challenging situation demands solutions to accommodate rapid growth while maintaining and/or enhancing the video quality. This paper proposes SODA-Stream, an SDN-based optimization framework for enhancing Quality-of-Experience (QoE) in DASH streaming. The optimization framework max-imizes the number of concurrent streaming sessions that can be accommodated in a network and maximize streaming quality. The practical implementation of the framework utilizes the dynamic routing and bandwidth allocation enabled by Software Defined Networking (SDN). The evaluation results show that SODA-Stream significantly outperforms the conventional network routing and resource allocation algorithms, accepting 52% more sessions, 45% improvement in bandwidth allocation, and 70% reduction in bandwidth wastage, smoother playback, and better viewing experience. © 2022 IEEE.