Scalable Video Transmission over Multiple-Input Multiple-Output System

The goal of this work is to address the problem of high quality video transmission over wireless networks where the challenge is to reconcile the video transmission requirements of high bit rate and high delay sensitivity with the wireless channel constraints of limited throughput, high bit error rate and significant time variation. Recent advances in both wireless communications, with the development of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna systems, and video compression standards, with the adoption of the scalable extension of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard (SVC), have spurred research in more effectively bridging the gap between channel conditions and video transmission requirements. This thesis examines strategies for the fusion of benefits accruing from the video stream structure afforded in the newly available scalable video compression technology with mechanisms of controlling allocation of antenna power based on channel state information feedback to devise novel cross-layer optimization methods of video transmission with improved performance. A novel priority-aware content-based cross-layer method is proposed where video is transported by matching the unequal channels created through the power allocation scheme to video sub-streams of different priority obtained by partitioning the scalable video stream using a judicious context-based strategy. Next, a multi-dimensional Content-Based Rate-Adaptation model is developed to estimate distortion by capturing the relationships among both the application layer and physical layer parameters. The model facilitates joint selection of physical layer parameters and video sub-stream configuration. Finally, a low-complexity SVC-based standard-compliant multiple description coding (MDC) scheme is proposed where two balanced descriptions are created from the scalable video by post-processing it at the network adaptation layer unit level. It is demonstrated that a MIMO system with an adaptive power control based antenna selection scheme is well-suited for transport of multiple descriptions of equal importance created using the proposed scheme. Experimental results using extensive video simulations of the proposed methods applied to transmission of representative video streams demonstrate improved performance in video peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), and show significant extension in the range of channel signal-to-noise ratio values for supporting an acceptable quality of video PSNR at the receiver compared with reference methods.