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Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE A (Applied Physics & Engineering)  2006, Vol. 7 Issue (5 ): 21-    DOI: 10.1631/jzus.2006.A0847
    
Video quality based link adaptation for low latency video transmission over WLANs
Ferré Pierre, Doufexi Angela, Chung-how James, Nix Andrew, Bull David
University of Bristol, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Centre for Communications Research, Bristol BS8 1UB, UK; ProVision Communication Technologies, Bristol BS4 4EU, UK
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Abstract  Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) such as IEEE 802.11a/g and Hiperlan/2 utilise numerous transmission modes, each providing different throughputs and reliability levels. Many link adaptation algorithms proposed in the literature either maximise the error-free data throughput based on channel conditions or are based on the number of failed transmissions. However, these algorithms do not take into account the content of the data stream and strongly rely on the use of Automatic Repeat Requests (ARQs). Low latency video applications such as real-time video transmission may require no retransmission, or only a limited number of retransmissions. Moreover, completely error-free communication is not essential, especially if robust video compression techniques are applied. In such scenarios, improved decoded video quality can be obtained with a video stream transmitted at a higher bit rate using a higher link speed but with some degree of transmission error, rather than an error-free video stream at a lower bit rate using a lower link speed. In this work, we investigate a link adaptation scheme that improves the Quality of Service (QoS) for video transmission, based on the overall received video quality (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio, PSNR), rather than by maximising the error-free throughput. We also study a practical link adaptation approach that uses PER thresholds at the PHY layer. An empirical study showed that thresholds for switching from one mode to another are much lower (almost error free) than those currently used by throughput based schemes. We show that traditional link adaptation strategies are not appropriate for real-time video transmission with no retransmission. Simulation results using the H.264 video compression standard over IEEE 802.11a are presented.

Key wordsLink adaptation      Wireless LAN      Video quality      Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR)      Packet Error Rate (PER)     
Received: 02 December 2005     
CLC:  TN919.8  
Cite this article:

Ferré Pierre, Doufexi Angela, Chung-how James, Nix Andrew, Bull David. Video quality based link adaptation for low latency video transmission over WLANs. Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE A (Applied Physics & Engineering), 2006, 7(5 ): 21-.

URL:

http://www.zjujournals.com/xueshu/zjus-a/10.1631/jzus.2006.A0847     OR     http://www.zjujournals.com/xueshu/zjus-a/Y2006/V7/I5 /21

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