Robust Video Transmission over a Lossy Network Using a Distributed Source Coded Auxiliary Channel

Predictive video codecs such as MPEG and H.26x are very susceptible to prediction mismatch between encoder and decoder or “drift” when there are packet losses, leading to a significant reduction in the decoded quality. Targeting backward compatibility with standard predictive video codecs, we propose a method that is conceptually different from conventional error protection schemes and inspired instead by principles from distributed source coding. Extra information is sent over a lower-rate auxiliary channel to correct for errors in the decoded frame and mitigate the drift. We present extensive simulation results to demonstrate that significant gains in performance (of the order of 3 dB in PSNR over FEC-based solutions and 5 dB in PSNR over baseline solutions for typical scenarios) can be achieved over conventional error protection schemes such as Forward Error Corrections Codes under reasonable latency constraints.