Skip to main content
EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing
Download PDF
  • Research Article
  • Open access
  • Published:

Comparison of Error Protection Methods for Audio-Video Broadcast over DVB-H

EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing volume 2007, Article number: 071801 (2007) Cite this article

Abstract

The paper discusses methods for robust audio-video broadcast over the digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) system. DVB-H includes a link-layer forward error correction (FEC) scheme known as multiprotocol encapsulation (MPE) FEC, which provides equal error protection (EEP) to the transmitted media streams. Several approaches for unequal error protection (UEP) have been proposed in the literature, and the applicability of some of them to DVB-H is analyzed in the paper. A link-layer UEP method based on priority segmentation of the media streams is chosen for more detailed analysis. According to the method, audio and the most important coded video pictures are protected by MPE-FEC more robustly compared to the remaining coded pictures. In order to compare EEP and UEP in a DVB-H environment, an error-prone DVB-H channel was simulated, audio-visual clips were sent through it, and a comprehensive subjective quality evaluation was conducted in a controlled laboratory environment. The results of the subjective evaluation revealed that the use of UEP improves the subjective quality of some test clips noticeably when the channel conditions were severe, while in other tested channel conditions and clips, UEP and EEP performed equally well.

References

  1. European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) : Digital video broadcasting (DVB); transmission system for handheld terminals (DVB-H). European Standard EN 302 304, version 1.1.1, November 2004

    Google Scholar 

  2. European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) : Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB): framing structure, channel coding and modulation for digital terrestrial television. ETSI standard, EN 300 744, 2001

    Google Scholar 

  3. ISO/IEC 13818-1 : Information technology—generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: systems. 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  4. European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) : Digital video broadcasting (DVB); DVB specification for data broadcasting. European Standard EN 301 192, version 1.4.1, November 2004

    Google Scholar 

  5. Reed IS, Solomon G: Polynomial codes over certain finite fields. SIAM Journal of Applied Mathematics 1960,8(2):300-304. 10.1137/0108018

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) : Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); specification for the use of video and audio coding in DVB services delivered directly over IP protocols. European standard TS 102 005 V1.2.1, November 2005

    Google Scholar 

  7. International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Engineering Consortium (IEC) : Information technology—generic coding of moving picture and associated audio information—part 3: audio. International Standard 14496-3 (2001), including "Bandwidth Extension," International Standard 14496-3 AMD-1 (2001) and "Parametric Coding for High Quality Audio," International Standard 14496-3 AMD-2 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Telecommunication Standardization Sector of International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) : Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services. Recommendation H.264, March 2005

    Google Scholar 

  9. Tian D, Hannuksela MM, Gabbouj M: Sub-sequence video coding for improved temporal scalability. Proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS '05), May 2005, Kobe, Japan 6: 6074–6077.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Aaltonen J, Pekonen H, Auranen T, Laiho K, Talmola P: Power saving considerations in mobile datacasting terminals. Proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on Consumer Electronics, September 2002, Erfurt, Germany F43-F48.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Wenger S, Hannuksela MM, Stockhammer T, Westerlund M, Singer D: RTP Payload Format for H.264 Video. IETF RFC 3984, February 2005

    Book  Google Scholar 

  12. Schierl T, Kampmann M, Wiegand T: H.264/AVC interleaving for 3G wireless video streaming. Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (ICME '05), July 2005, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 868–871.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Schierl T, Wiegand T, Kampmann M: 3GPP compliant adaptive wireless video streaming using H.264/AVC. Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP '05), September 2005, Genova, Italy 3: 696–699.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Albanese A, Blömer J, Edmonds J, Luby M, Sudan M: Priority encoding transmission. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 1996,42(6, part 1):1737-1744. 10.1109/18.556670

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  15. Leicher C: Hierarchical encoding of MPEG sequences using priority encoding transmission (PET). In Tech. Rep. TR-94-058. International Computer Science Institute, Berkeley, Calif, USA; 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Horn U, Stuhlmüller K, Link M, Girod B: Robust internet video transmission based on scalable coding and unequal error protection. Signal Processing: Image Communication 1999,15(1–2):77-94. 10.1016/S0923-5965(99)00025-9

    Google Scholar 

  17. Rosenberg J, Schulzrinne H: An RTP payload format for generic forward error correction. Internet Engineering Task Force Request for Comments 2733, December 1999

    Book  Google Scholar 

  18. Li AH: RTP payload format for generic forward error correction. Internet Engineering Task Force Internet Draft draft-ietf-avt-ulp-18.txt, June 2006

    Google Scholar 

  19. Tian D, Malamal Vadakital VK, Hannuksela MM, Wenger S, Gabbouj M: Improved H.264/AVC video broadcast /multicast. Visual Communications and Image Processing 2005, July 2005, Beijing, China, Proceedings of SPIE 5960: 71–82.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Malamal Vadakital VK, Hannuksela MM, Rezaei M, Gabbouj M: Method for unequal error protection in DVB-H for mobile television. Proceedings of the 17th IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC '06), September 2006, Helsinki, Finland 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Malamal Vadakital VK, Hannuksela MM, Pekkonen H, Gabbouj M: On datacasting of H.264/AVC over DVB-H. Proceedings of the 7th IEEE Workshop on Multimedia Signal Processing, October 2005, Shanghai, China 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Girod B: Psychovisual aspects of image communication. Signal Processing 1992,28(3):239-251. 10.1016/0165-1684(92)90042-U

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. International Telecommunications Union—Radiocommunication sector : Methodology for the subjective assessment of the quality of television pictures. ITU-R BT.500-11, 2002

    Google Scholar 

  24. International Telecommunications Union—Telecommunication sector : Subjective video quality assessment methods for multimedia applications. ITU-T P.910, 1999

    Google Scholar 

  25. Rogers EM: Diffusion of Innovation. 5th edition. Free Press, New York, NY, USA; 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Jumisko-Pyykkö S, Häkkinen J: Evaluation of subjective video quality on mobile devices. Proceedings of the 13th ACM International Conference on Multimedia, November 2005, Singapore 535–538.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  27. Winkler S, Faller C: Maximizing audiovisual quality at low bitrates. Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Video Processing and Quality Metrics for Consumer Electronics (VPQM '05), January 2005, Scottsdale, Ariz, USA

    Google Scholar 

  28. Gilbert EN: Capacity of a burst-noise channel. Bell Systems Technical Journal 1960, 39: 1253–1265.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  29. Poikonen J, Paavola J: Comparison of finite-state models for simulating the DVB-H link layer performance. Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Wireless Communications Systems Conference (ISWCS '05), September 2005, Siena, Italy 153–157.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Jumisko-Pyykkö S, Malamal Vadakital VK, Liinasuo M, Hannuksela MM: Acceptance of audiovisual quality in erroneous television sequences over a DVB-H channel. Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Video Processing and Quality Metrics for Consumer Electronics (VPQM '06), January 2006, Scottsdale, Ariz, USA 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Faria G, Henriksson JA, Stare E, Talmola P: DVB-H: digital broadcast services to handheld devices. Proceedings of the IEEE 2006,94(1):194-209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Ishihara's tests for color deficiency 24 Plates edition. Tokyo, Kanehara trading INC, 2005

  33. International Standardization Organization : Visual acuity testing. ISO 8596, 1994

    Google Scholar 

  34. International Standardization Organization : Audiometric test methods. ISO 8523-1-2, 1989

    Google Scholar 

  35. International Standardization Organization : ISO Standards Handbook 35. Acoustics. 1st edition, p. 386. Switzerland, 1990

    Google Scholar 

  36. International Standardization Organization : Statistical distribution of hearing threshold. ISO 7029 SFS-EN Acoustics, 2000

    Google Scholar 

  37. Coolican H: Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology. 4th edition. J. W. Arrowsmith, London, UK; 2004.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nokia Research Center, P.O. Box 1000, Tampere, 33721, Finland

    Miska M. Hannuksela

  2. Institute of Signal Processing, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 553, Tampere, 33101, Finland

    Vinod Kumar Malamal Vadakital

  3. Institute of Human-Centered Technology, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 553, Tampere, 33101, Finland

    Satu Jumisko-Pyykkö

Authors
  1. Miska M. Hannuksela
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Vinod Kumar Malamal Vadakital
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Satu Jumisko-Pyykkö
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miska M. Hannuksela.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://doi.org/creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hannuksela, M.M., Malamal Vadakital, V.K. & Jumisko-Pyykkö, S. Comparison of Error Protection Methods for Audio-Video Broadcast over DVB-H. EURASIP J. Adv. Signal Process. 2007, 071801 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1155/2007/71801

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2007/71801

Keywords