Network-adaptive video streaming using multiple description coding and path diversity

Abstract

This paper presents a TCP-friendly rate allocation algorithm for multiple description coding combined with path diversity. A 3-D SPIHT-based multiple description coding is used to generate two independent substreams and each substream is protected with an FEC-based unequal error protection algorithm. In the proposed video streaming framework, two senders simultaneously stream complementary substreams to the receiver over different paths. The proposed rate allocation algorithm coordinates distributed video streaming from multiple senders to a single receiver to minimize the overall distortion. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm increases tolerance to packet loss due to network congestion and achieves higher visual quality compared to non-adaptive methods.