Advanced solutions for quality-oriented multimedia broadcasting

Multimedia content is increasingly being delivered via different types of networks to viewers in a variety of locations and contexts using a variety of devices. The ubiquitous nature of multimedia services comes at a cost, however. The successful delivery of multimedia services will require overcoming numerous technological challenges many of which have a direct effect on the quality of the multimedia experience. For example, due to dynamically changing requirements and networking conditions, the delivery of multimedia content has traditionally adopted a best effort approach. However, this approach has often led to the end-user perceived quality of multimedia-based services being negatively affected. Yet the quality of multimedia content is a vital issue for the continued acceptance and proliferation of these services. Indeed, end-users are becoming increasingly quality-aware in their expectations of multimedia experience and demand an ever-widening spectrum of rich multimedia-based services. As a consequence, there is a continuous and extensive research effort, by both industry and academia, to find solutions for improving the quality of multimedia content delivered to the users; as well, international standards bodies, such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), are renewing their effort on the standardization of multimedia technologies. There are very different directions in which research has attempted to find solutions in order to improve the quality of the rich media content delivered over various network types. It is in this context that this special issue on broadcast multimedia quality of the IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting illustrates some of these avenues and presents some of the most significant research results obtained by various teams of researchers from many countries. This special issue provides an example, albeit inevitably limited, of the richness and breath of the current research on multimedia broadcasting services. The research i- - ssues addressed in this special issue include, among others, factors that influence user perceived quality, encoding-related quality assessment and control, transmission and coverage-based solutions and objective quality measurements

Enhancement of Adaptive Forward Error Correction Mechanism for Video Transmission Over Wireless Local Area Network

Video transmission over the wireless network faces many challenges. The most critical challenge is related to packet loss. To overcome the problem of packet loss, Forward Error Correction is used by adding extra packets known as redundant packet or parity packet. Currently, FEC mechanisms have been adopted together with Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) mechanism to overcome packet losses and avoid network congestion in various wireless network conditions. The number of FEC packets need to be generated effectively because wireless network usually has varying network conditions. In the current Adaptive FEC mechanism, the FEC packets are decided by the average queue length and average packet retransmission times. The Adaptive FEC mechanisms have been proposed to suit the network condition by generating FEC packets adaptively in the wireless network. However, the current Adaptive FEC mechanism has some major drawbacks such as the reduction of recovery performance which injects too many excessive FEC packets into the network. This is not flexible enough to adapt with varying wireless network condition. Therefore, the enhancement of Adaptive FEC mechanism (AFEC) known as Enhanced Adaptive FEC (EnAFEC) has been proposed. The aim is to improve recovery performance on the current Adaptive FEC mechanism by injecting FEC packets dynamically based on varying wireless network conditions. The EnAFEC mechanism is implemented in the simulation environment using Network Simulator 2 (NS-2). Performance evaluations are also carried out. The EnAFEC was tested with the random uniform error model. The results from experiments and performance analyses showed that EnAFEC mechanism outperformed the other Adaptive FEC mechanism in terms of recovery efficiency. Based on the findings, the optimal amount of FEC generated by EnAFEC mechanism can recover high packet loss and produce good video quality

Joint On-the-Fly Network Coding/Video Quality Adaptation for Real-Time Delivery

This paper introduces a redundancy adaptation algorithm for an on-the-fly erasure network coding scheme called Tetrys in the context of real-time video transmission. The algorithm exploits the relationship between the redundancy ratio used by Tetrys and the gain or loss in encoding bit rate from changing a video quality parameter called the Quantization Parameter (QP). Our evaluations show that with equal or less bandwidth occupation, the video protected by Tetrys with redundancy adaptation algorithm obtains a PSNR gain up to or more 4 dB compared to the video without Tetrys protection. We demonstrate that the Tetrys redundancy adaptation algorithm performs well with the variations of both loss pattern and delay induced by the networks. We also show that Tetrys with the redundancy adaptation algorithm outperforms FEC with and without redundancy adaptation

무선 통신 네트워크 환경에서의 효과적인 비디오 스트리밍 기법 연구

학위논문 (박사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 전기정보공학부, 2013. 8. 최성현.오늘날 무선 네트워크 통신 기술의 발달로 인해 고품질의 비디오 스트리밍 서비스에 대한 요구가 급증하고 있다. 새로운 60~GHz 광대역 고속 무선 통신 기술은 기존의 무선 통신 기술에서는 불가능했던, 고품질의 무압축 비디오 스트리밍을 가능하게 한다. 제한된 무선 자원 환경에서 고품질의 비디오 서비스를 지원하기 위해 주어진 채널 환경에서 적절한 변조 및 코딩 기술을 선택하는 효율적인 링크 적응 기법이 필요하다. 비디오 스트리밍의 품질을 수치로 평가하는 ePSNR을 정의하고, 불평등 오류 보호 기법(UEP)을 추가로 도입하여 보다 세밀한 링크 적응 기법을 가능케 한다. 정의한 ePSNR을 기반으로 (1) 주어진 무선 자원에서 비디오 품질을 최대화, 혹은 (2) 목표 비디오 품질을 만족하는 무선 자원 사용을 최소화, 하는 두가지 링크 적응 기법들을 제안한다. 다양한 시뮬레이션 결과를 통해, 정의한 ePSNR이 비디오 품질을 잘 표현하고 있음을 확인하였다. 또한, 제안한 링크 적응 기법들이 비디오 스트리밍 서비스를 위한 적절한 품질을 제공하면서, 동시에 자원 효율성을 향상시킴을 검증하였다. 한편, 순방향 오류 정정 기법(FEC)은 무선랜 환경에서 고품질의 신뢰성있는 비디오 멀티캐스트를 지원한다. 무선랜 환경에서 복수개의 액세스포인트(AP)간의 조정을 통한 신뢰성있는 비디오 멀티캐스트 기법을 제시한다. 복수개의 AP간의 조정을 통해 각각의 AP들이 (1) 완전히 서로 다른, 혹은 (2) 부분적으로 서로 다른, 인코딩된 패킷들을 전송하게 하여, 공간 및 시간적 다양성을 멀티캐스트 유저에게 제공할 수 있다. 추가로, 제한된 무선 자원을 보다 효율적으로 사용하기 위해, 순방향 오류 정정 기법의 코딩 비율 적응 기법을 위한 자원 할당 알고리즘을 제안한다. 또한, FEC 디코딩 후의 비디오 패킷의 전송율를 예측할 수 있는 방법을 제안한다. 다양한 시뮬레이션과 실험을 통해 제안한 기법들의 우수성을 확인하였다. 멀티캐스트 전송은 기본적으로 무선 채널 오류로 인해 전송 실패가 발생할 가능성을 내포한다. 그러나 기존의 무선랜 표준에서는 멀티캐스트 환경에서 자동 반복 요청 기법(ARQ)을 통한 손실 조정 방법을 제공하지 않았다. 멀티캐스트 전송의 비신뢰성 문제를 해결하기 위해, 자동 반복 요청 기법(ARQ)과 순방향 오류 정정 기법(FEC)를 함께 고려한 신뢰성 있는 멀티캐스트 전송 기법을 제안한다. 신뢰성 있는 멀티캐스트 전송을 위한 피드백 교환의 오버헤드를 줄이기 위한 복수개의 효율적인 피드백 기법을 제시한다. 제안한 피드백 기법은 액세스포인트(AP)가 멀티캐스트 유저들의 손실된 패킷들의 복원을 위해 필요한 패리티(parity) 패킷의 개수를 쉽게 알 수 있도록 한다. 피드백 간의 충돌을 감안한 의도적인 동시 전송을 통해 피드백 오버헤드를 감소시킬 수 있다. 추가로, 효율적인 피드백 프로토콜을 활용하여, 변조 및 코딩 기법(MCS)의 폐쇄적 피드백 기반의 물리 전송 속도 적응 기법을 제안한다. 성능 검증을 통해 제안한 기법들이 효율적으로 피드백 오버헤드를 감소시키며, 동시에 신뢰성있는 멀티캐스트 전송을 보장함을 검증하였다.Today, along with the rapid growth of the network performance, the demand for high-quality video streaming services has greatly increased. The emerging 60 GHz multi-Gbps wireless technology enables the streaming of high-quality uncompressed video, which was not possible with other existing wireless technologies. To support such high quality video with limited wireless resources, an efficient link adaptation policy, which selects the proper Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) for a given channel environment, is essential. We introduce a new metric, called expected Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (ePSNR), to numerically estimate the video streaming quality, and additionally adopt Unequal Error Protection (UEP) schemes that enable flexible link adaptation. Using the ePSNR as a criterion, we propose two link adaptation policies with different objectives. The proposed link adaptation policies attempt to (1) maximize the video quality for given wireless resources, or (2) minimize the required wireless resources while meeting the video quality. Our extensive simulation results demonstrate that the introduced variable, i.e., ePSNR, well represents the level of video quality. It is also shown that the proposed link adaptation policies can enhance the resource efficiency while achieving acceptable quality of the video streaming. Meanwhile, Forward Error Correction (FEC) can be exploited to realize reliable video multicast over Wi-Fi with high video quality. We propose reliable video multicast over Wi-Fi networks with coordinated multiple Access Points (APs) to enhance video quality. By coordinating multiple APs, each AP can transmit (1) entirely different or (2) partially different FEC-encoded packets so that a multicast receiver can benefit from both spatial and time diversities. The proposed scheme can enlarge the satisfactory video multicast region by exploiting the multi-AP diversity, thus serving more multicast receivers located at cell edge with satisfactory video quality. We propose a resource-allocation algorithm for FEC code rate adaptation, utilizing the limited wireless resource more efficiently while enhancing video quality. We also introduce the method for estimating the video packet delivery ratio after FEC decoding. The effectiveness of the proposed schemes is evaluated via extensive simulation and experimentation. The proposed schemes are observed to enhance the ratio of satisfied users by up to 37.1% compared with the conventional single AP multicast scheme. The multicast transmission is inherently unreliable due to the transmission failures caused by wireless channel errors, however, the error control with Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) is not provided for the multicast transmission in legacy IEEE 802.11 standard. To overcome the unreliability of multicast transmission, finally, we propose the reliable multicast protocols considering both ARQ and packet-level FEC together. For the proposed reliable multicast protocol, to reduce the overheads of feedback messages while providing the reliable multicast service, the multiple efficient feedback protocols, i.e., Idle-time-based feedback, Slot-based feedback, Flash-based feedback, and Busy-time-based feedback, are proposed. The proposed feedback protocols let the AP know easily the number of requiring parity frames of the worst user(s) for the recovery of the lost packets. The feedback overheads can be reduced by intending the concurrent transmissions, which makes the collisions, between feedback messages. In addition, utilizing the efficient feedback protocols, we propose the PHY rate adaptation based on the close-loop MCS feedback in multicast transmissions. From the performance evaluations, the proposed protocols can efficiently reduce the feedback overheads, while the reliable multicast transmissions are guaranteed.1 Introduction 1 1.1 Video Streaming over Wireless Networks 1 1.1.1 Uncompressed Video Streaming over 60 GHz band 2 1.1.2 Video Multicast over IEEE 802.11 WLAN 3 1.2 Overview of Existing Approaches 5 1.2.1 Link Adaptation over Wireless Networks 5 1.2.2 Video Streaming over IEEE 802.11 WLAN 6 1.2.3 Reliable Multicast over IEEE 802.11 WLAN 8 1.3 Main Contributions 9 1.4 Organization of the Dissertation 11 2 Link Adaptation for High-Quality Uncompressed Video Streaming in 60 GHz Wireless Networks 12 2.1 Introduction 12 2.2 ECMA-387 and Wireless HDMI 17 2.2.1 ECMA-387 18 2.2.2 Wireless HDMI (HDMI PAL) 21 2.2.3 UEP Operations 22 2.2.4 ACK Transmissions for Video Streaming 23 2.2.5 Latency of Compressed and Uncompressed Video Streaming 24 2.3 ePSNR-Based Link Adaptation Policies 25 2.3.1 ePSNR 28 2.3.2 PSNR-based Link Adaptation 30 2.4 Performance Evaluation 33 2.4.1 Evaluation of ePSNR 34 2.4.2 Performance of Link Adaptation 40 2.5 Summary 45 3 Reliable Video Multicast over Wi-Fi Networks with Coordinated Multiple APs 47 3.1 Introduction 47 3.2 System Environments 50 3.2.1 Time-Slotted Multicast 50 3.2.2 FEC Coding Schemes 52 3.3 Reliable Video Multicast with Coordinated Multiple APs 52 3.3.1 Proposed Video Multicast 52 3.3.2 Video Multicast Procedure 55 3.4 FEC Code Rate Adaptation 58 3.4.1 Estimation of Delivery Ratio 59 3.4.2 Greedy FEC Code Rate Adaptation 61 3.5 Performance Evaluation 63 3.5.1 Raptor Code Performance 64 3.5.2 Simulation Results: No Fading 66 3.5.3 Simulation Results: Fading Channel 69 3.5.4 Simulation Results: Code Rate Adaptation 70 3.5.5 Experimental Results 74 3.5.6 Prototype Implementation 76 3.6 Summary 79 4 Reliable Video Multicast with Efficient Feedback over Wi-Fi 81 4.1 Introduction 81 4.2 Motivation 85 4.3 Proposed Feedback Protocols for Reliable Multicast 87 4.3.1 Idle-time-based Feedback 88 4.3.2 Slot-based Feedback 89 4.3.3 Flash-based Feedback 91 4.3.4 Busy-time-based Feedback 92 4.4 PHY Rate Adaptation in Multicast Transmission 93 4.5 Performance Evaluation 96 4.5.1 Performance evaluation considering feedback error 104 4.6 Summary 109 5 Conclusion and Future Work 110 5.1 Research Contributions 110 5.2 Future Research Directions 111 Abstract (In Korean) 121Docto

Fuzzy Logic Control of Adaptive ARQ for Video Distribution over a Bluetooth Wireless Link

Bluetooth's default automatic repeat request (ARQ) scheme is not suited to video distribution resulting in missed display and decoded deadlines. Adaptive ARQ with active discard of expired packets from the send buffer is an alternative approach. However, even with the addition of cross-layer adaptation to picture-type packet importance, ARQ is not ideal in conditions of a deteriorating RF channel. The paper presents fuzzy logic control of ARQ, based on send buffer fullness and the head-of-line packet's deadline. The advantage of the fuzzy logic approach, which also scales its output according to picture type importance, is that the impact of delay can be directly introduced to the model, causing retransmissions to be reduced compared to all other schemes. The scheme considers both the delay constraints of the video stream and at the same time avoids send buffer overflow. Tests explore a variety of Bluetooth send buffer sizes and channel conditions. For adverse channel conditions and buffer size, the tests show an improvement of at least 4 dB in video quality compared to nonfuzzy schemes. The scheme can be applied to any codec with I-, P-, and (possibly) B-slices by inspection of packet headers without the need for encoder intervention.</jats:p

A Credit-based Home Access Point (CHAP) to Improve Application Quality on IEEE 802.11 Networks

Increasing availability of high-speed Internet and wireless access points has allowed home users to connect not only their computers but various other devices to the Internet. Every device running different applications requires unique Quality of Service (QoS). It has been shown that delay- sensitive applications, such as VoIP, remote login and online game sessions, suffer increased latency in the presence of throughput-sensitive applications such as FTP and P2P. Currently, there is no mechanism at the wireless AP to mitigate these effects except explicitly classifying the traffic based on port numbers or host IP addresses. We propose CHAP, a credit-based queue management technique, to eliminate the explicit configuration process and dynamically adjust the priority of all the flows from different devices to match their QoS requirements and wireless conditions to improve application quality in home networks. An analytical model is used to analyze the interaction between flows and credits and resulting queueing delays for packets. CHAP is evaluated using Network Simulator (NS2) under a wide range of conditions against First-In-First- Out (FIFO) and Strict Priority Queue (SPQ) scheduling algorithms. CHAP improves the quality of an online game, a VoIP session, a video streaming session, and a Web browsing activity by 20%, 3%, 93%, and 51%, respectively, compared to FIFO in the presence of an FTP download. CHAP provides these improvements similar to SPQ without an explicit classification of flows and a pre- configured scheduling policy. A Linux implementation of CHAP is used to evaluate its performance in a real residential network against FIFO. CHAP reduces the web response time by up to 85% compared to FIFO in the presence of a bulk file download. Our contributions include an analytic model for the credit-based queue management, simulation, and implementation of CHAP, which provides QoS with minimal configuration at the AP

Cross-layer analysis for video transmission over COFDM-based wireless local area networks

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Evaluating the Use of QoS for Video Delivery in Vehicular Networks

In a near future, video transmission capabilities in intelligent vehicular networks will be essential for deploying high-demanded multimedia services for drivers and passengers. Applications and services like video on demand, iTV, context-aware video commercials, touristic information, driving assis-tance, multimedia e-call, etc., will be part of the common multimedia service-set of future transportation systems. However, wireless vehicular networks introduce several constraints that may seriously impact on the final quality of the video content delivery process. Factors like the shared-medium communication model, the limited bandwidth, the unconstrained delays, the signal propagation issues, and the node mobility, will be the ones that will degrade video delivery performance, so it will be a hard task to guarantee the minimum quality of service required by video applications. In this work, we will study how these factors impact on the received video quality by using a detailed simulation model of a urban vehicular network scenario. We will apply different techniques to reduce the video quality degradation produced by the transmission impairments like (a) Intra-refresh video coding modes, (b) frame partitioning (tiles/slices), and (c) quality of service at the Medium Access Control (MAC) level. So, we will learn how these techniques are able to fight against the network impairments produced by the hostile environment typically found in vehicular network scenarios. The experiments were carried out with a simulation environment based on the OMNeT++, Veins and SUMO simulators. Results show that the combination of the proposed techniques significantly improves the robustness of video transmission in vehicular networks, paving the way, with a wise collaboration with other techniques, to achieve a robust video delivery system that supports multimedia applications in future intelligent transportation systems