A Survey on Multimedia-Based Cross-Layer Optimization in Visual Sensor Networks

Visual sensor networks (VSNs) comprised of battery-operated electronic devices endowed with low-resolution cameras have expanded the applicability of a series of monitoring applications. Those types of sensors are interconnected by ad hoc error-prone wireless links, imposing stringent restrictions on available bandwidth, end-to-end delay and packet error rates. In such context, multimedia coding is required for data compression and error-resilience, also ensuring energy preservation over the path(s) toward the sink and improving the end-to-end perceptual quality of the received media. Cross-layer optimization may enhance the expected efficiency of VSNs applications, disrupting the conventional information flow of the protocol layers. When the inner characteristics of the multimedia coding techniques are exploited by cross-layer protocols and architectures, higher efficiency may be obtained in visual sensor networks. This paper surveys recent research on multimedia-based cross-layer optimization, presenting the proposed strategies and mechanisms for transmission rate adjustment, congestion control, multipath selection, energy preservation and error recovery. We note that many multimedia-based cross-layer optimization solutions have been proposed in recent years, each one bringing a wealth of contributions to visual sensor networks

Cross-layer optimization of unequal protected layered video over hierarchical modulation

Abstract-unequal protection mechanisms have been proposed at several layers in order to improve the reliability of multimedia contents, especially for video data. The paper aims at implementing a multi-layer unequal protection scheme, which is based on a Physical-Transport-Application cross-layer design. Hierarchical modulation, in the physical layer, has been demonstrated to increase the overall user capacity of a wireless communications. On the other hand, unequal erasure protection codes at the transport layer turned out to be an efficient method to protect video data generated by the application layer by exploiting their intrinsic properties. In this paper, the two techniques are jointly optimized in order to enable recovering lost data in case the protection is performed separately. We show that the cross-layer design proposed herein outperforms the performance of hierarchical modulation and unequal erasure codes taken independently

Cross-Layer Optimization for Video-streaming Transmission with QoS over Ad Hoc Networks: A Holistic Approach

In this paper we present ViStA-XL, a Cross-Layer (XL) design aiming to optimize the overall performance of videostreaming services over Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs). The idea relies on applying optimization strategies to different network layers in a holistic way. In ViStA-XL, a real-time Optimizer (XLO) periodically gathers information of the state of node and network from different layers of the stack of protocols, takes optimization decisions, and then modifies some parameters of the protocols accordingly. In addition, our proposal exploits path diversity through MM-DSR (Multipath MultimediaDynamic Source Routing) protocol as a means to reinforce the Quality of Service (QoS) provision to multi-layer encoded videostreaming applications, by protecting the most important video information packets, balancing the load and decreasing the endto-end delay. To show the advantages of our approach, we have developed and tested an algorithm based on ViStA-XL. Simulation results show that our proposed network design can improve the performance of video-streaming transmissions over MANETs in spite of frequent changes in network and node operating conditions

Power Efficient MISO Beamforming for Secure Layered Transmission

This paper studies secure layered video transmission in a multiuser multiple-input single-output (MISO) beamforming downlink communication system. The power allocation algorithm design is formulated as a non-convex optimization problem for minimizing the total transmit power while guaranteeing a minimum received signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at the desired receiver. In particular, the proposed problem formulation takes into account the self-protecting architecture of layered transmission and artificial noise generation to prevent potential information eavesdropping. A semi-definite programming (SDP) relaxation based power allocation algorithm is proposed to obtain an upper bound solution. A sufficient condition for the global optimal solution is examined to reveal the tightness of the upper bound solution. Subsequently, two suboptimal power allocation schemes with low computational complexity are proposed for enabling secure layered video transmission. Simulation results demonstrate significant transmit power savings achieved by the proposed algorithms and layered transmission compared to the baseline schemes.Comment: Accepted for presentation at the IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC), Istanbul, Turkey, 201

QoE enhancement for H.264/SVC video transmission in MANET using MP-OLSR protocol

International audienceThis paper addresses the problem of enhancing video service quality for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET) scenarios. We offer Multipath Optimized Link State (MP-OLSR) routing protocol for H.264/SVC bitstream forwarding in the MANET network. Besides the usage of a suitable routing protocol, the video quality can be further enhanced by using the scalable encoding feature of Scalable Video Coding (SVC) combined with Unequal Error Protection (UEP). SVC is an extension of the H.264/AVC video compression standard used for high-quality video bitstreams encoding, providing spatial, temporal and quality scalability. To evaluate video quality, the Video Quality Metric (VQM) is used. We chose 5 different video contents for our simulations characterized by various temporal and spatial complexities. These video references are taken from the Video Quality Expert Group (VQEG). The results show that multipath routing combined with UEP can effectively improve the quality of video communication over MANET in terms of VQM and successful video decoding