Reengineering a legacy media streaming application

Team Daffodil analyzed the existing app features, functionality, and the challenges associated with it. Identification of stakeholders, report metrics, integrations with the app, technologies & architecture (and how much changes are required), etc was done before starting with the process. There were scalability and load balancing issues that needed to be fixed along with the other changes. Team Daffodil divided the requirements into two development milestones and proceeded with Agile methodology (Kanban & Scrum) for app development.

Team Daffodil revamped the entire mobile app using React Native technology. Along with the improvement in UI, major updates were done to enhance the user experience.

• The presentation and structure of the apps were changed so that users can find the media they are interested in. A custom media player was developed with an improved search that helps to find media by searching through metadata.
• The user authentication process, which earlier used the captive portal and required users to fill a form to login was simplified. Easy login to the platform is supported with or without GSM connectivity.
• From an end-user perspective, a number of updates were made in the app, which includes resuming video after switching the router, in-app notifications for communication, one-time registration to use the app, etc.
• Earlier, the router could accommodate only 4-5 users and it started to hang thereafter. Team Daffodil had to work on this limitation of the suite and ensure that with the same RAM, the router should take a load of 25 users at least. This was achieved using the MiniDLNA server (a media streaming server).

In the previous suite, there was no media server deployed which could manage the load of the PHP server. MiniDNA performed this job and ascertained that APIs are not affected, the load is distributed, and the CPU task is reduced. The Server is hosted on OpenWRT Operating System which is a Linux-based system, especially meant for embedded devices like media routers. OpenWrt reduces latency and increases network throughput via buffer bloat control algorithms.

The backend was revamped using PHP Laravel. Since all the APIs were developed for communication with the app built on Delphi technology, the team had to develop all the APIs again. The admin panel gives a bird’ eye view of how advertising is done, provides router details, manages roles and privileges, allows mass mailing, and more.

Since advertising is the core business model of GoKonnect, they wanted a complete view of what’s happening in the background. The admin panel allows checking the total number of active/inactive users, list of new users, age, etc. It also provides a media dashboard (media viewers, playcount), router dashboard (active routers, average uptime, updated router), banner advert (totals, ad impression, clicks), track users/bus by location, etc.