Content-aware resource allocation and packet scheduling for video transmission over wireless networks

Peshala Pahalawatta*, Randall Berry, Thrasyvoulos Pappas, Aggelos Katsaggelos

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

128 Scopus citations

Abstract

A cross-layer packet scheduling scheme that streams pre-encoded video over wireless downlink packet access networks to multiple users is presented. The scheme can be used with the emerging wireless standards such as HSDPA and IEEE 802.16. A gradient based scheduling scheme is used in which user data rates are dynamically adjusted based on channel quality as well as the gradients of a utility function. The user utilities are designed as a function of the distortion of the received video. This enables distortion-aware packet scheduling both within and across multiple users. The utility takes into account decoder error concealment, an important component in deciding the received quality of the video. We consider both simple and complex error concealment techniques. Simulation results show that the gradient based scheduling framework combined with the content-aware utility functions provides a viable method for downlink packet scheduling as it can significantly outperform current content-independent techniques. Further tests determine the sensitivity of the system to the initial video encoding schemes, as well as to non-real-time packet ordering techniques.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)749-758
Number of pages10
JournalIEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications
Volume25
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2007

Funding

Manuscript received May 15, 2006; revised December 1, 2006. This work was supported by the Motorola Center for Seamless Communication at Northwestern University. The authors are with the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at Northwestern University (e-mail: [email protected]). Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSAC.2007.070511.

Keywords

  • Cross-layer design
  • H.264
  • HSDPA
  • Video streaming
  • Wireless packet scheduling

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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