Wireless transmission of MPEG-4 video: performance evaluation of unequal error protection over a block fading channel

Video transmission over a wireless channel is extremely critical. In order to increase the robustness of the MPEG-4 video bitstream to channel errors, an unequal error protection (UEP) scheme is considered, exploiting the "data partitioning" tool provided by the MPEG-4 standard: each partition is protected according to its sensitivity to channel errors. Performances of such scheme are evaluated in a block fading channel, a model that is well suited to describe, for example, slow frequency hopping (SFH)/TDMA mobile radio systems. Performances are evaluated in terms of PSNR and compared to the case of equal error protection, with a code rate equal to the average rate of the considered UEP scheme. Results obtained with different block lengths are compared; different levels of channel state information availability at the receiver are also considered.