FEC Framework (fecframe)
------------------------

 Charter
 Last Modified: 2009-11-09

 Current Status: Active Working Group

 Chair(s):
     Greg Shepherd  <gjshep@gmail.com>

 Transport Area Director(s):
     David Harrington  <ietfdbh@comcast.net>
     Lars Eggert  <lars.eggert@nokia.com>
     Wesley Eddy  <wes@mti-systems.com>

 Transport Area Advisor:
     David Harrington  <ietfdbh@comcast.net>

 Mailing Lists: 
     General Discussion:fecframe@ietf.org
     To Subscribe:      https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/fecframe
     Archive:           http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/fecframe

Description of Working Group:

The object of this group is to develop specifications for using forward 
error correction (FEC) codes with applications in the Internet to  
provide protection against packet loss. The group will develop a  
protocol framework for application of FEC codes to arbitrary packet  
flows over unreliable transport protocols over both IP multicast and  
unicast. The application of the FEC codec on an aggregate of multiple  
packet flows may be investigated and considered to be included in the  
solution.  
 
The FECFrame working group will use the building block approach (RFC  
3269), especially the FEC Building Block (RFC 3452), developed by the  
RMT working group. The FEC Building Block was developed to ensure that  
the RMT framework developed can support multiple FEC codes and maintain 
independence between FEC codes and protocols based on the framework. 
The FECFrame WG may develop new FEC schemes if necessary to provide  
substantial performance gains for the intended applications. However  
the acceptance of any FEC scheme will require multiple, prior, detailed 
reviews of the FEC code by independent experts from both the IETF and  
the broader community, since it is likely that the IETF working group  
will not include a large enough number of suitable experts in its  
working set. If these reviews are positive, then Working Group  
acceptance of an FEC scheme work item still needs the approval of the  
responsible Area Director.  
 
A primary objective of this framework is to support FEC for real-time  
media applications using RTP over UDP, such as on demand streaming and  
audio/video broadcast. Other potential usages of the framework may be  
brought to the working group for consideration during the development 
of the requirements, to enable future support of those usages. The 
group will coordinate closely with the AVT and MMUSIC working groups to 
ensure that the streaming use-case is fully specified both in terms of  
interactions with RTP/RTCP and application layer signalling. The group  
will also coordinate with the DCCP working group, at least to consider  
that transport protocol's role in streaming media. The interactions of  
the framework with existing and used security mechanisms must also be  
considered.  
 
The group will work with the RMT working group to ensure that the FEC  
Building Block defined in RMT supports both the RMT use-cases (object  
delivery over multicast) and the more general FEC protection of  
flow(s) over unreliable unicast and multicast transport.  
 
Specification of hybrid schemes involving both retransmission and  
forward error correction is out of scope of the group.

 Goals and Milestones:

   Done         Working Group consensus on requirements and their 
                prioritization for the FEC protocol framework 

   Done         Completed selection of solution to develop and mature 

   Done         FEC framework requirements WG soft-freeze 

   Done         FEC Streaming Framework WG soft-freeze 

   Mar 2008       FEC Grouping informational draft submitted to MMUSIC 

   Nov 2008       FEC Streaming Framework submitted as Proposed Standard 

   Nov 2008       FEC framework requirements submitted as Proposed Standard 

   Nov 2008       Usage of FEC framework with RTP submitted as Proposed Standard 

   Nov 2008       FEC SDP Elements submitted as Proposed Standard 

   Nov 2008       Discuss re-chartering 


 Internet-Drafts:

Posted Revised         I-D Title   <Filename>
------ ------- --------------------------------------------
Feb 2007 Feb 2011   <draft-ietf-fecframe-framework-13.txt>
                Forward Error Correction (FEC) Framework 

Feb 2008 Oct 2010   <draft-ietf-fecframe-sdp-elements-11.txt>
                Session Description Protocol Elements for FEC Framework 

Jul 2008 Jan 2011   <draft-ietf-fecframe-config-signaling-04.txt>
                Methods to convey FEC Framework Configuration Information 

Aug 2008 Dec 2009   <draft-ietf-fecframe-dvb-al-fec-04.txt>
                Guidelines for Implementing DVB-IPTV Application-Layer Hybrid 
                FEC Protection 

Oct 2008 Dec 2010   <draft-ietf-fecframe-raptor-04.txt>
                Raptor FEC Schemes for FECFRAME 

Mar 2009 Nov 2010   <draft-ietf-fecframe-rtp-raptor-04.txt>
                RTP Payload Format for Raptor FEC 

 Request For Comments:

  RFC   Stat Published     Title
------- -- ----------- ------------------------------------
RFC6015 PS   Oct 2010    RTP Payload Format for 1-D Interleaved Parity Forward 
                       Error Correction (FEC)