An MDC-based video streaming architecture for mobile networks

Multiple description coding (MDC) is a framework designed to improve the robustness of video content transmission in lossy environments. In this work, we propose an MDC technique using a legacy coder to produce two descriptions, based on separation of even and odd frames. If only one description is received, the missing frames are reconstructed using temporal high-order motion interpolation (HOMI), a technique originally proposed for distributed video coding. If both descriptions are received, the frames are reconstructed as a block-wise linear combination of the two descriptions, with the coefficient computed at the encoder in a RD-optimised fashion, encoded with a context-adaptive arithmetic coder, and sent as side information. We integrated the proposed technique in a mobile ad-hoc streaming protocol, and tested it using a group mobility model. The results show a non-negligible gain for the expected video quality, with respect to the reference technique. © 2011 IEEE.