Quality of service issues for MPEG-2 video over ATM

We review the techniques available for the transmission of MPEG-2 compressed video over ATM networks. The compressed video data is grouped into packets for transmission within the MPEG-2 systems layer. These packets are transmitted over one of a number of alternative ATM adaptation protocols and then over the ATM layer. MPEG-2 video requires an extremely high quality of service (QoS) from the transport system as it is extremely sensitive to cell losses. These requirements can be met by the network or by added functionality in the end systems. We consider how the end systems can, code the video to minimise the effect of errors, conceal errors, shape the traffic with rate control, perform forward error correction and implement scalable video coding. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches.