Raptor Code-Aware Link Adaptation for Spectrally Efficient Unicast Video Streaming over Mobile Broadband Networks

This paper proposes novel Raptor-aware link adaptation (LA) when application layer Forward Error Correction (AL-FEC) with Raptor codes is used for live, high quality, video unicast over mobile broadband networks. The use of Raptor code AL-FEC is taken into account for the adaptation of the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used in the physical layer. A cross-layer optimization approach is used to select the Raptor code parameters and the MCS mode jointly, in order to maximize transmission efficiency. The proposed methodology takes into consideration the channel resources required to accommodate the Raptor overheads. Simulation results show that packet loss is eliminated and the amount of radio resource required is reduced significantly. Automatic repeat request (ARQ) based unicast systems require up to 115.6 percent more channel resources, by comparison to the proposed Raptor-aware LA system without retransmissions. Furthermore, the Raptor-aware LA system can enhance the link budget by up to 4 dB, increasing coverage in LoS locations, and can improve total goodput by 46.7 percent compared to an ARQ-based system.