1. Background and motivation

For some network applications, time constraints (delay, jitter, throughput) can be as important, or even more important, than constraints on the reliability of the data received. This is the case for multimedia flows such as voice or video, but also for certain networked video games. What these applications have in common is a certain tolerance to data loss.

• In the case of VoIP, streams are typically made up of small packets transmitted periodically, each containing a relatively small number of voice samples. To minimize header overhead, it is desirable to keep header sizes as small as possible.

• In the case of video streaming, a stream usually consists of a sequence of packets transmitted at a constant rate, but packet size can fluctuate widely.

• Networked first-person shooters...