Rate control for video coding over variable bit rate channels with applications to wireless transmission

Video transmission over wireless links is an emerging application which involves a time-varying channel. In this paper we propose that rate control algorithms should be used at the video encoders, along with models of the channel behavior , to improve the performance of such systems. Rather than letting information be lost as the channel conditions change, in our scheme channel state information is fedback to the encoder. We propose a method, based on dynamic programming, to compute the rate-distortion performance for a given channel and source realization. We show how the rate-distortion performance changes with end-to-end delay and feedback delay.