Optimal packet scheduling for multiple description coded video transmissions over lossy networks

Multiple description coding addresses the problem of encoding a source signal into two or more sub-streams. Each sub-stream is assumed to be transmitted over an independent path. However, multiple independent paths may not be available, and for most cases only a single path can be used. The scheduling of these descriptions over a single path is still problematic because of the bursty packet loss behavior. In this paper, we propose a novel packet scheduling method for multiple description coded video transmission over a single path. The proposed method adaptively schedules the descriptions according to channel conditions by jointly considering the bursty packet loss behavior and the transmission delay of the network. The simulation results show that the proposed method can improve the video quality by 1.5 dB on average as compared to the method of sending one packet of each description right after the other. It also outperforms a heuristic interleaving approach by roughly 0.3-0.45 dB, depending on the channel conditions.