On unequal error protection random linear coding for scalable video broadcasting

In this paper, we investigate the performance of unequal error protection (UEP) random linear coding (RLC) schemes for applications in scalable video broadcasting. We analyze in detail the performance of two packet-level UEP strategies: the one that encode each video layer independently (non-overlapping windowing strategy) and the one that encodes video layers jointly (expanding windowing strategy). We demonstrate that the theoretical performance limits of both strategies are achievable by combination of RLC coding and the Gaussian Elimination (GE) decoding. We focus on the application of UEP RLC on scalable video transmission and investigate UEP RLC code design for improved received video distortion performance.