Internet DRAFT - draft-ietf-avt-rtcp-bw
draft-ietf-avt-rtcp-bw
Internet Engineering Task Force Audio/Video Transport Working Group
INTERNET-DRAFT S. Casner
draft-ietf-avt-rtcp-bw-05.txt Packet Design
November 20, 2001
Expires: May 20, 2002
SDP Bandwidth Modifiers for RTCP Bandwidth
Status of this Memo
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all
provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.
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Abstract
This document defines an extension to the Session Description
Protocol (SDP) to specify two additional modifiers for the
bandwidth attribute. These modifiers may be used to specify the
bandwidth allowed for RTCP packets in a Real-Time Transport
Protocol (RTP) session.
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1. Introduction
The Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP), RFC XXXX [1], includes a control
protocol RTCP which provides synchronization information from data
senders and feedback information from data receivers.
Normally, the amount of bandwidth allocated to RTCP in an RTP session is
5% of the session bandwidth. For some applications, it may be
appropriate to specify the RTCP bandwidth independently of the session
bandwidth. Using a separate parameter allows rate-adaptive applications
to set an RTCP bandwidth consistent with a "typical" data bandwidth that
is lower than the maximum bandwidth specified by the session bandwidth
parameter. That allows the RTCP bandwidth to be kept under 5% of the
data bandwidth when the rate has been adapted downward.
On the other hand, there may be applications that send data at very low
rates but need to communicate extra RTCP information, such as APP
packets. These applications may need to specify RTCP bandwidth that is
higher than 5% of the data bandwidth.
The RTP specification allows a profile to specify that the RTCP
bandwidth may be divided into two separate session parameters for those
participants which are active data senders and those which are not.
Using two parameters allows RTCP reception reports to be turned off
entirely for a particular session by setting the RTCP bandwidth for non-
data-senders to zero while keeping the RTCP bandwidth for data senders
non-zero so that sender reports can still be sent for inter- media
synchronization. This may be appropriate for systems operating on
unidirectional links or for sessions that don't require feedback on the
quality of reception.
This memo defines an extension to the Session Description Protocol
(SDP), RFC ZZZZ [2], to specify RTCP bandwidth for senders and non-
senders (receivers).
2. SDP Extensions
The Session Description Protocol includes an optional bandwidth
attribute with the following syntax:
b=<modifier>:<bandwidth-value>
where <modifier> is a single alphanumeric word giving the meaning of the
bandwidth figure, and where the default units for <bandwidth-value> are
kilobits per second. This attribute specifies the proposed bandwidth to
be used by the session or media.
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A typical use is with the modifier "AS" (for Application Specific
Maximum) which may be used to specify the total bandwidth for a single
media stream from one site (source).
This memo defines two additional bandwidth modifiers:
b=RS:<bandwidth-value>
b=RR:<bandwidth-value>
where "RS" indicates the RTCP bandwidth allocated to active data senders
(as defined by the RTP spec) and "RR" indicates the RTCP bandwidth
allocated to other participants in the RTP session (i.e., receivers).
The bandwidth allocation applies to the total bandwidth consumed by all
RTCP packet types, including SR, RR, SDES, BYE, APP and any new types
defined in the future.
The <bandwidth-value> for these modifiers is in units of bits per second
with an integer value.
NOTE: This specification was in conflict with the initial SDP spec
in RFC 2327 which prescribes that the <bandwidth-value> for all
bandwidth modifiers should be an integer number of kilobits per
second. This discrepancy was forced by the fact that the desired
RTCP bandwidth setting may be less than 1 kb/s.
At the 44th IETF meeting in Minneapolis, two solutions were
considered: allow fractional values, or specify that the units for
these particular modifiers would be in bits per second. The second
choice was preferred so that the syntax would not be changed. The
SDP spec was modified in RFC ZZZZ to allow this change in
semantics.
3. Default values
If either or both of the RS and RR bandwidth specifiers are omitted, the
default values for these parameters are as specified in the RTP profile
in use for the session in question. For the Audio/Video Profile, RFC
YYYY [3], the defaults follow the recommendations of the RTP spec:
o The total RTCP bandwidth is 5% of the session bandwidth. If one
of these RTCP bandwidth specifiers is omitted, its value is 5%
minus the value of the other one. If both are omitted, the
sender and receiver RTCP bandwidths are 1.25% and 3.75% of the
session bandwidth, respectively.
o At least 1/4 of of the RTCP bandwidth is dedicated to active data
senders. When the proportion of senders is greater than 1/4 of
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the participants, the senders get their proportion of the sum of
these parameters.
This memo does not impose limits on the values that may be specified
with the RR and RS modifiers, other than that they must be non-negative.
However, the RTP specification and the appropriate RTP profile may
specify limits.
4. Precedence
An SDP description consists of a session-level description (details that
apply to the whole session and all media streams) and zero or more
media-level descriptions (details that apply only to a single media
stream). Bandwidth specifiers may be present either at the session
level to specify the total bandwidth shared by all media, or in the
media sections to specify the bandwidth allocated to each medium, or
both. This is true for the two RTCP bandwidth modifiers defined here as
well.
Since the bandwidth allocated to RTCP is a fraction of the session
bandwidth when not specified explicitly using the modifiers defined
here, there is an interaction between the session bandwidth and RTCP
bandwidth specifiers at the session and media levels of the SDP
description. The precedence of these specifiers is as follows, with (1)
being the highest precedence:
1) Explicit RR or RS specifier at media level
2) Explicit RR or RS specifier at session level
3) Default based on session bandwidth specifier at media level
4) Default based on session bandwidth specifier at session level
In particular, the relationship of (2) and (3) means that if the RR
bandwidth is specified as zero at the session level, that turns off RTCP
transmission for non-data-senders in all media.
5. Example
An example SDP description is:
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v=0
o=mhandley 2890844526 2890842807 IN IP4 126.16.64.4
s=SDP Seminar
i=A Seminar on the session description protocol
c=IN IP4 224.2.17.12/127
t=2873397496 2873404696
m=audio 49170 RTP/AVP 0
b=AS:64
b=RR:800
b=RS:2400
m=video 51372 RTP/AVP 31
b=AS:256
b=RR:800
b=RS:2400
In this example the explicit RTCP bandwidths for the audio medium are
equal to the defaults and so could be omitted. However, for the video
medium the RTCP bandwidths have been set according to a data bandwidth
of 64 kb/s even though the maximum data bandwidth is specified as 256
kb/s. This is based on the assumption that the video data bandwidth
will automatically adapt to a lower value based on network conditions.
6. IANA Considerations
RFC ZZZZ requires that new bandwidth modifiers be registered with IANA
by reference to a standards-track RFC specifying the semantics of the
bandwidth modifier precisely, indicating when it should be used, and why
the existing registered bandwidth specifiers do not suffice.
This document is intended to satisfy those requirements.
7. Security Considerations
This memo defines bandwidth modifier keywords as an extension to SDP, so
the security considerations listed in the SDP specification apply to
session descriptions containing these modifiers as with any other.
The bandwidth value supplied with one of these modifiers could be
unreasonably large and cause the application to send RTCP packets at an
excessive rate, resulting in a denial of service. This is similar to
the risk that an unreasonable bandwidth could be specified for the media
data, though encoders generally have a limited bandwidth range.
Applications should apply validity checks to all parameters received in
an SDP description, particular one which is not authenticated. This
memo cannot specify limits because they are dependent on the RTP profile
and application.
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8. References
[1] H. Schulzrinne, S. Casner, R. Frederick and V. Jacobson, "RTP:
A Transport Protocol for real-time applications," RFC XXXX,
(Update of RFC 1889 in draft-ietf-avt-rtp-new, Work in Progress).
[2] M. Handley, V. Jacobson and C. Perkins, "SDP: Session Description
Protocol", RFC ZZZZ, (Update of RFC 2327 in
draft-ietf-mmusic-sdp-new, Work in Progress).
[3] H. Schulzrinne and S. Casner, "RTP profile for audio and video
conferences with minimal control", RFC YYYY, (Update of RFC 1890
in draft-ietf-avt-profile-new, Work in Progress).
9. Author's Address
Stephen L. Casner
Packet Design
2465 Latham Street
Mountain View, CA 94040
Phone: +1 650 943-1843
Email: casner@acm.org
10. Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
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However, this document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by
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or as required to translate it into languages other than English.
The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
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This document and the information contained herein is provided on an "AS
IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK
FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
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