# Nebula: Reliable Low-latency Video Transmission for Mobile Cloud Gaming

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.07738 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.07738/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 16 Jan 2022.

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Enabling Real-time Neural Recovery for Cloud Gaming on Mobile Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.07847/) (2023)
- [Why does Prediction Accuracy Decrease over Time? Uncertain Positive Learning for Cloud Failure Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.00034/) (2024)
- [Graph Neural Assisted Actor-Critic for Latency-Efficient Edge Vision System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.16142/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Mobile cloud gaming enables high-end games on constrained devices by streaming the game content from powerful servers through mobile networks. Mobile networks suffer from highly variable bandwidth, latency, and losses that affect the gaming experience. This paper introduces Nebula, an end-to-end cloud gaming framework to minimize the impact of network conditions on the user experience. Nebula relies on an end-to-end distortion model adapting the video source rate and the amount of frame-level redundancy based on the measured network conditions. As a result, it minimizes the motion-to-photon (MTP) latency while protecting the frames from losses. We fully implement Nebula and evaluate its performance against the state of the art techniques and latest research in real-time mobile cloud gaming transmission on a physical testbed over emulated and real wireless networks. Nebula consistently balances MTP latency (<140 ms) and visual quality (>31 dB) even in highly variable environments. A user experiment confirms that Nebula maximizes the user experience with high perceived video quality, playability, and low user load.