A multilevel unequal protection scheme for robust H.264/AVC video transmission over wireless channels

We present a cross-layer and multilevel unequal error protection (UEP) approach for robust video transmission over noisy wireless channels. We combine the UEP schemes at the application layer (i.e., multi-level unequal importance of compressed H.264/AVC video data) and physical layer (multi-resolution asymmetric 8-PSK modulation). The proposed scheme multiplexes the video data by mapping it to the unequally protected asymmetric PSK signal constellation, such that the most significant bits have a lower probability of error than the least significant bits. This scheme provides a graceful degradation of reconstructed video data during short deep fades in a point to point wireless communication system.