Performance Analysis of Optimal Error-Protection Schemes for Enabling Quality Mobile Video Transmission

Abstract

Multimedia communication systems play a vital role in every field of life, thanks to their improved capabilities and higher customer demands. Multimedia communication is one of the most exciting research areas, as the demand for multimedia content over mobile information systems is increasing with each passing day. However, as wireless networks are susceptible to channel noise and data corruption, novel techniques must be devised for reliable, high-quality communication. Various flavors of forward error correction (FEC) methods can be deployed in mobile video transmission to achieve such a transmission mechanism. A comparison of different channel codes is required to understand the effectiveness of each algorithm. In this research, we have investigated Convolutional codes, Red Muller codes, Polar codes, Low-density parity check codes (LDPC), and Concatenated codes for their error correction capabilities. Furthermore, a mobile video transmission system employing these five channel codes in the presence of channel noise is being developed. The performance of each channel code is then evaluated using quantitative, i.e., peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and bit error rate (BER), and qualitative metrics. Simulation results show that the concatenated coding scheme outperforms other channel codes in mitigating the errors and distortions which typically arise in wireless transmission. More specifically, the concatenated coding schemes offer about 17 dB gain compared to the convolutional coding scheme at the PSNR degradation point of 40 dB.