NeSt-VR: An Adaptive Bitrate Algorithm for Wireless Virtual Reality Streaming

Abstract

Interactive Virtual Reality (VR) streaming over wireless links requires both high frame rates and low motion-to-photon latency, requirements that are difficult to sustain under changing channel conditions such as fluctuating bandwidth and multi-user contention. Adaptive BitRate (ABR) control is therefore essential, as it dynamically adjusts the encoded bitrate in response to network conditions to maintain smooth interactive video delivery. In this paper, we present NeSt-VR, the Network-aware Step-wise ABR algorithm for VR streaming, a configurable controller that uses application-level frame-delivery and frame-delay feedback to adjust the encoder target bitrate in discrete steps, reducing abrupt bitrate oscillations while supporting a satisfactory interactive VR user experience. We evaluate NeSt-VR through Wi-Fi experiments against state-of-the-art ABR baselines, including GCC, NADA, and EVeREst-Intra. The evaluation covers single-user and multi-user scenarios and common Wi-Fi challenges such as co-channel interference and capacity fluctuations. The results show that NeSt-VR effectively manages bandwidth variation, maintains frame delivery and low latency, and compares favorably with the baseline controllers in the evaluated scenarios.