A Model Predictive Controller for Frame-Level Rate Control in Multiview Video Coding

In this work, we present a novel frame-level Rate Control algorithm for Multiview Video Coding encoder that adopts the Model Predictive Control technique in order to provide low bitrate fluctuation and high video quality. Our Model Predictive Rate Control (MPRC) predicts the bitrate for a frame by employing (i) inter-view inter-GOP (Group of Pictures) phase-based bitrate prediction, and (ii) temporal (intra-GOP) target bitrate linear weighting. Moreover, the MPRC also defines an optimal control action through frame-level QP value selection. Experimental results demonstrate that our MPRC bitrate prediction incurs a Mean Bit Estimation Error (MBEE) of 1.13% compared to 2.46% provided by single view-based Rate Control and 1.61% provided by the state-of-the-art MVC Rate Control. Our solution also provides on average 0.876dB BD-PSNR increase and 28.92% BD-Bitrate reduction while providing smoother quality and bitrate variations when compared to state-of-the-art.