Rate-distortion optimal joint source/channel coding for robust and efficient low bit rate packet video communications

We present a rate-distortion optimal joint source/channel coding framework for efficient and robust low bit rate video communications in packet networks. The proposed algorithm combines layered coding with transport prioritization in a novel operational rate-distortion optimization framework that trades off source coding performance for channel coding protection. The system is demonstrated to achieve significant improvement in reconstructed video quality for a range of packet loss rates.