Multi-connectivity for real-time streaming over Wi-Fi

WiFi is a real pain in many situations! This can actually help!

We’ve been experimenting with real-time streaming over Wi-Fi where packets have a 100 ms latency budget. The problem we wanted to look at was roaming. Even when you have good Wi-Fi coverage, moving between access points can cause short interruptions that are long enough to matter for a real-time application. Instead of relying on a single Wi-Fi connection and hoping the handover is fast enough, we tested our overlay multi-connectivity transport using three Wi-Fi access points at the same time. The transport can use all three paths simultaneously, so a roaming event or temporary interruption on one connection doesn’t necessarily interrupt the stream. We’re still digging into the results, but it’s an interesting way of thinking about Wi-Fi reliability: rather than trying to make one connection perfect, use several imperfect ones together.