Joint source channel coding of images over frequency selective channels using DCT and multicarrier BPAM

A novel approach to joint source and channel coding for frequency selective channels is presented. Multicarrier modulation is used to obtain an equivalent vector channel to the frequency selective channel and utilize the linear coding procedure of Lee and Petersen. The use of the block pulse amplitude transmission results in graceful degradation of the decoded signal for low channel SNR. The new procedure shows very good performance for image transmission over frequency selective channels with deep nulls in the frequency response, in the very low channel SNR region. Both encoder and decoder are computationally very inexpensive in terms of design and implementation, compared to the digital transmission with channel optimized vector quantization. Results for transmission of Gauss-Markov source and ‘$Lena” image on several typical channels are presented.