Following recent theoretical works on successive Wyner-Ziv coding, we propose
a practical layered Wyner-Ziv video coder using the DCT, nested scalar quantiza-
tion, and irregular LDPC code based Slepian-Wolf coding (or lossless source coding
with side information at the decoder). Our main novelty is to use the base layer
of a standard scalable video coder (e.g., MPEG-4/H.26L FGS or H.263+) as the
decoder side information and perform layered Wyner-Ziv coding for quality enhance-
ment. Similar to FGS coding, there is no performance di®erence between layered and
monolithic Wyner-Ziv coding when the enhancement bitstream is generated in our
proposed coder. Using an H.26L coded version as the base layer, experiments indicate
that Wyner-Ziv coding gives slightly worse performance than FGS coding when the
channel (for both the base and enhancement layers) is noiseless. However, when the
channel is noisy, extensive simulations of video transmission over wireless networks
conforming to the CDMA2000 1X standard show that H.26L base layer coding plus
Wyner-Ziv enhancement layer coding are more robust against channel errors than
H.26L FGS coding. These results demonstrate that layered Wyner-Ziv video coding
is a promising new technique for video streaming over wireless networks.
For scalable video transmission over the Internet and 3G wireless networks, we
propose a system for receiver-driven layered multicast based on layered Wyner-Ziv video coding and digital fountain coding. Digital fountain codes are near-capacity
erasure codes that are ideally suited for multicast applications because of their rate-
less property. By combining an error-resilient Wyner-Ziv video coder and rateless
fountain codes, our system allows reliable multicast of high-quality video to an arbi-
trary number of heterogeneous receivers without the requirement of feedback chan-
nels. Extending this work on separate source-channel coding, we consider distributed
joint source-channel coding by using a single channel code for both video compression
(via Slepian-Wolf coding) and packet loss protection. We choose Raptor codes - the
best approximation to a digital fountain - and address in detail both encoder and de-
coder designs. Simulation results show that, compared to one separate design using
Slepian-Wolf compression plus erasure protection and another based on FGS coding
plus erasure protection, the proposed joint design provides better video quality at the
same number of transmitted packets
