Self-concatenated coding and multi-functional MIMO aided H.264 video telephony

Abstract— Robust video transmission using iteratively detected Self-Concatenated Coding (SCC), multi-dimensional Sphere Packing (SP) modulation and Layered Steered Space-Time Coding (LSSTC) is proposed for H.264 coded video transmission over correlated Rayleigh fading channels. The self-concatenated convolutional coding (SECCC) scheme is composed of a Recursive Systematic Convolutional (RSC) code and an interleaver, which is used to randomise the extrinsic information exchanged between the self-concatenated constituent RSC codes. Additionally, a puncturer is employed for improving the achievable bandwidth efficiency. The convergence behaviour of the MIMO transceiver advocated is investigated with the aid of Extrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) charts. The proposed system exhibits an Eb /N0 gain of about 9 dB at the PSNR degradation point of 1 dB in comparison to the identical-rate benchmarker scheme

Turbo Detection of Space-time Trellis-Coded Constant Bit Rate Vector-Quantised Videophone System using Reversible Variable-Length Codes, Convolutional Codes and Turbo Codes

In this treatise we characterise the achievable performance of a proprietary video transmission system, which employs a Constant Bit Rate (CBR) video codec that is concatenated with one of three error correction codecs, namely a Reversible Variable-Length Code (RVLC), a Convolutional Code (CC) or a convolutional-based Turbo Code (TC). In our investigations, the CBR video codec was invoked in conjunction with Space-Time Trellis Coding (STTC) designed for transmission over a dispersive Rayleigh fading channel. At the receiver, the channel equaliser, the STTC decoder and the RVLC, CC or TC decoder, as appropriate, employ the Max-Log Maximum A-Posteriori (MAP) algorithm and their operations are performed in an iterative 'turbo-detection' fashion. The systems were designed for maintaining similar error-free video reconstruction qualities, which were found to be subjectively pleasing at a Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) of 30.6~dB, at a similar decoding complexity per decoding iteration. These design criteria were achieved by employing differing transmission rates, with the CC- and TC-based systems having a 22% higher bandwidth requirement. The results demonstrated that the TC-, RVLC- and CC-based systems achieve acceptable subjective reconstructed video quality associated with an average PSNR in excess of 30~dB for $E_b/N_0$ values above 4.6~dB, 6.4~dB and 7.7~dB, respectively. The design choice between the TC- and RVLC-based systems constitutes a trade-off between the increased error resilience of the TC-based scheme and the reduced bandwidth requirement of the RVLC-based scheme

The Road From Classical to Quantum Codes: A Hashing Bound Approaching Design Procedure

Powerful Quantum Error Correction Codes (QECCs) are required for stabilizing and protecting fragile qubits against the undesirable effects of quantum decoherence. Similar to classical codes, hashing bound approaching QECCs may be designed by exploiting a concatenated code structure, which invokes iterative decoding. Therefore, in this paper we provide an extensive step-by-step tutorial for designing EXtrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) chart aided concatenated quantum codes based on the underlying quantum-to-classical isomorphism. These design lessons are then exemplified in the context of our proposed Quantum Irregular Convolutional Code (QIRCC), which constitutes the outer component of a concatenated quantum code. The proposed QIRCC can be dynamically adapted to match any given inner code using EXIT charts, hence achieving a performance close to the hashing bound. It is demonstrated that our QIRCC-based optimized design is capable of operating within 0.4 dB of the noise limit

Performance Analysis and Enhancement of Multiband OFDM for UWB Communications

In this paper, we analyze the frequency-hopping orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system known as Multiband OFDM for high-rate wireless personal area networks (WPANs) based on ultra-wideband (UWB) transmission. Besides considering the standard, we also propose and study system performance enhancements through the application of Turbo and Repeat-Accumulate (RA) codes, as well as OFDM bit-loading. Our methodology consists of (a) a study of the channel model developed under IEEE 802.15 for UWB from a frequency-domain perspective suited for OFDM transmission, (b) development and quantification of appropriate information-theoretic performance measures, (c) comparison of these measures with simulation results for the Multiband OFDM standard proposal as well as our proposed extensions, and (d) the consideration of the influence of practical, imperfect channel estimation on the performance. We find that the current Multiband OFDM standard sufficiently exploits the frequency selectivity of the UWB channel, and that the system performs in the vicinity of the channel cutoff rate. Turbo codes and a reduced-complexity clustered bit-loading algorithm improve the system power efficiency by over 6 dB at a data rate of 480 Mbps.Comment: 32 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. Submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications (Sep. 28, 2005). Minor revisions based on reviewers' comments (June 23, 2006

Space-time coding techniques with bit-interleaved coded modulations for MIMO block-fading channels

The space-time bit-interleaved coded modulation (ST-BICM) is an efficient technique to obtain high diversity and coding gain on a block-fading MIMO channel. Its maximum-likelihood (ML) performance is computed under ideal interleaving conditions, which enables a global optimization taking into account channel coding. Thanks to a diversity upperbound derived from the Singleton bound, an appropriate choice of the time dimension of the space-time coding is possible, which maximizes diversity while minimizing complexity. Based on the analysis, an optimized interleaver and a set of linear precoders, called dispersive nucleo algebraic (DNA) precoders are proposed. The proposed precoders have good performance with respect to the state of the art and exist for any number of transmit antennas and any time dimension. With turbo codes, they exhibit a frame error rate which does not increase with frame length.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Trans. on Information Theory, Submission: January 2006 - First review: June 200

Serially Concatenated Coded Continuous Phase Modulation for Aeronautical Telemetry

This thesis treats the development of bandwidth-efficient serially concatenated coded (SCC) continuous phase modulation (CPM) techniques for aeronautical telemetry. The concatenated code consists of an inner and an outer code, separated by an interleaver in most configurations, and is decoded using relatively simple near-optimum iterative decoding algorithms. CPM waveforms such as shaped-offset quadrature phase shift keying (SOQPSK) and pulse code modulation/frequency modulation (PCM/FM), which are currently used in military satellite and aeronautical telemetry standards, can be viewed as inner codes due to their recursive nature. For the outer codes, this thesis applies serially concatenated convolutional codes (SCCC), turbo-product codes (TPC) and repeat-accumulate codes (RAC) because of their large coding gains, high code rates, and because their decoding algorithms are readily implemented. High-rate codes are of special interest in aeronautical telemetry applications due to recent reductions in available spectrum and ever-increasing demands on data rates. This thesis evaluates the proposed coding schemes with a large set of numerical simulation results and makes a number of recommendations based on these results

Spread spectrum-based video watermarking algorithms for copyright protection

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/2263 on 14.03.2017 by CS (TIS)Digital technologies know an unprecedented expansion in the last years. The consumer can now benefit from hardware and software which was considered state-of-the-art several years ago. The advantages offered by the digital technologies are major but the same digital technology opens the door for unlimited piracy. Copying an analogue VCR tape was certainly possible and relatively easy, in spite of various forms of protection, but due to the analogue environment, the subsequent copies had an inherent loss in quality. This was a natural way of limiting the multiple copying of a video material. With digital technology, this barrier disappears, being possible to make as many copies as desired, without any loss in quality whatsoever. Digital watermarking is one of the best available tools for fighting this threat. The aim of the present work was to develop a digital watermarking system compliant with the recommendations drawn by the EBU, for video broadcast monitoring. Since the watermark can be inserted in either spatial domain or transform domain, this aspect was investigated and led to the conclusion that wavelet transform is one of the best solutions available. Since watermarking is not an easy task, especially considering the robustness under various attacks several techniques were employed in order to increase the capacity/robustness of the system: spread-spectrum and modulation techniques to cast the watermark, powerful error correction to protect the mark, human visual models to insert a robust mark and to ensure its invisibility. The combination of these methods led to a major improvement, but yet the system wasn't robust to several important geometrical attacks. In order to achieve this last milestone, the system uses two distinct watermarks: a spatial domain reference watermark and the main watermark embedded in the wavelet domain. By using this reference watermark and techniques specific to image registration, the system is able to determine the parameters of the attack and revert it. Once the attack was reverted, the main watermark is recovered. The final result is a high capacity, blind DWr-based video watermarking system, robust to a wide range of attacks.BBC Research & Developmen

ON TURBO CODES AND OTHER CONCATENATED SCHEMES IN COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

The advent of turbo codes in 1993 represented a significant step towards realising the ultimate capacity limit of a communication channel, breaking the link that was binding very good performance with exponential decoder complexity. Turbo codes are parallel concatenated convolutional codes, decoded with a suboptimal iterative algorithm. The complexity of the iterative algorithm increases only linearly with block length, bringing previously unprecedented performance within practical limits.. This work is a further investigation of turbo codes and other concatenated schemes such as the multiple parallel concatenation and the serial concatenation. The analysis of these schemes has two important aspects, their performance under optimal decoding and the convergence of their iterative, suboptimal decoding algorithm. The connection between iterative decoding performance and the optimal decoding performance is analysed with the help of computer simulation by studying the iterative decoding error events. Methods for good performance interleaver design and code design are presented and analysed in the same way. The optimal decoding performance is further investigated by using a novel method to determine the weight spectra of turbo codes by using the turbo code tree representation, and the results are compared with the results of the iterative decoder. The method can also be used for the analysis of multiple parallel concatenated codes, but is impractical for the serial concatenated codes. Non-optimal, non-iterative decoding algorithms are presented and compared with the iterative algorithm. The convergence of the iterative algorithm is investigated by using the Cauchy criterion. Some insight into the performance of the concatenated schemes under iterative decoding is found by separating error events into convergent and non-convergent components. The sensitivity of convergence to the Eb/Ng operating point has been explored.SateUite Research Centre Department of Communication and Electronic Engineerin

Dispensing with channel estimation: differentially modulated cooperative wireless communications

As a benefit of bypassing the potentially excessive complexity and yet inaccurate channel estimation, differentially encoded modulation in conjunction with low-complexity noncoherent detection constitutes a viable candidate for user-cooperative systems, where estimating all the links by the relays is unrealistic. In order to stimulate further research on differentially modulated cooperative systems, a number of fundamental challenges encountered in their practical implementations are addressed, including the time-variant-channel-induced performance erosion, flexible cooperative protocol designs, resource allocation as well as its high-spectral-efficiency transceiver design. Our investigations demonstrate the quantitative benefits of cooperative wireless networks both from a pure capacity perspective as well as from a practical system design perspective