An unequal error protection mechanism for video streaming over IEEE 802.11e WLANs

1389-1286/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2012.04.004 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 7381452 73921037. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (C hpds.ee.ncku.edu.tw (Y.-C. Wang), [email protected]. [email protected] (W.-S. Hwang). 1 Tel.: +886 73814526x5533; fax: +886 73921037 2 Tel.: +886 62757575x62359; fax: +886 6234548 A Cross-Layer Mapping Unequal Error Protection (CLM-UEP) mechanism is proposed for video streaming over IEEE 802.11e wireless networks. In the proposed approach, the transmitted video frames are assigned a different number of redundant packets in accordance with their video coding significance. An adaptive cross-layer mapping algorithm is then applied in the Media Access Control (MAC) layer to map the video and redundant packets to appropriate Access Category (AC) queues based on their coding significance and the network load. The numerical results show that the UEP mechanism provides an effective protection against wireless transmission losses. Moreover, the CLM algorithm maximizes the utilization efficiency of the AC queues and minimizes network congestion. As a result, a significant improvement is obtained in both the Playable Frame Ratio (PFR) and the peak signal-to-noise ratio of the transmitted video. 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.