Use of concatenated FEC coding for real-time packet video over heterogeneous wired-to-wireless IP networks

In this paper, we address the problem of robust packet video transmission over heterogeneous wired-to-wireless IP networks. We propose the use of a concatenated FEC coding scheme employing interlaced Reed-Solomon (RS) codes and rate-compatible punctured convolutional (RCPC) codes to protect the video data from packet loss and bit errors, respectively. Furthermore, the performance of a joint source-channel coding (JSCC) approach employing this concatenated FEC coding scheme for video transmission is also studied. Results indicate that with an appropriate JSCC approach, concatenated FEC-based error-control techniques, together with passive error-recovery techniques, can significantly improve the effective video throughput and lead to acceptable video delivery quality over time-varying heterogeneous wired-to-wireless IP networks.

1. INTRODUCTION

With the emergence of broadband wireless networks and the increasing demand for multimedia transport over the Internet, many multimedia applications will require video transmission over a wired-to-wireless link. However, many existing wired and/or wireless networks cannot provide guaranteed QoS, either because of congestion, or because temporally high bit error rates cannot be avoided during fading periods. Channel-induced losses, including packet losses due to congestion over wired networks as well as packet losses and/or bit errors due to transmission errors on a wireless network, require customized error resilience and channel coding strategies that add redundancy to the coded video stream at the expense of reduced source coding efficiency or effective source coding rates, resulting in compromised video quality.