Multimedia Multicast Using SPLIT and Layered FEC

In this paper, we propose the use of layered forward error correction (FEC) as an error control mechanism in a layered video protocol known as "SPLIT". By organizing FEC into multiple layers, a receiver can obtain different level of protection with respect to the channel capacity. By effectively dropping data layers, overall effective bandwidth can also be achieved. In our work, we integrated Reed-Solomon based FEC error control into SPLIT protocol, which is a priority based protocol. We used NS-2 simulator to evaluate FEC on SPLIT protocol and the results show that the video quality can be significantly improved at the same communication rate when layered FEC is used