Optimization of Video Streaming

Over 3G Networks

V IDEO streaming over cellular networks has been made possible in the last years by better
performing video codecs and wireless cellular networks oriented to data transmission. The interaction
between two heterogeneous worlds, the telecommunication infrastructure and the coding video
software, calls for advanced optimization mechanisms. The actors involved in the optimization
process are the cellular system's access network, UMTS and HSDPA, the wireless transmission
channel and the _nal user equipped with a mobile device capable of decoding video sequences. The
knowledge and
characterization of each of the building blocks allow the optimization of each element to the speci_c
needs of the others.
This doctoral thesis discusses three main contributions. In the _rst part, the e_ects of transmission
errors on video streams are analyzed. Incorrectly received video packets are usually discarded by the
lower layers and not conveyed to the application. Part of the payload, however, still contains valid
encoded information. Only the data stored after the error occurrence cannot be correctly interpreted,
because of the variable length coding. Several error detection strategies at application layer are
analyzed and compared. Finally, a proposal for a more e_cient sorting of the encoded information is
discussed.
The second part of the thesis deals with the optimization of a speci_c service: soccer video streaming.
Soccer represents one of the most attractive contents, as nomadic users are interested on receiving
this content live in their mobile device. The way human users evaluate the quality of this speci_c
video service is the key issue driving the study. By means of unsupervised segmentation, three
regions
of the frame have been identi_ed: the _eld, the players with the ball, and the audience. As the
three regions have a di_erent impact in terms of subjective quality, their rate-distortion behavior has
been optimized by assigning more data and, therefore, increasing the quality of the subjectively most
important items.
In the third part, two cross-layer mechanisms are presented. As _rst, the application of SP and SI
frames, specially encoded frames able to limit the temporal error propagation, has been discussed as
an alternative to packet retransmission. The proposed optimization has been performed considering
the measured error characteristics of the UMTS DCH. The second investigation is dedicated to the
optimization of video streaming over HSDPA networks. Within a single video data stream, packets
with di_erent importance are discriminated. Exploiting secondary PDP contexts, several logical
connection
with di_erent quality settings can be established. By means of header _ltering, each packet is
transmitted utilizing the appropriate channel, privileging the most important payloads.
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