Mobile Multimedia Communications. 6th International ICST Conference, MOBIMEDIA 2010, Lisbon, Portugal, September 6-8, 2010. Revised Selected Papers

Research Article

Robust Video Calls for Emergency Services over IP Based Networks

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-642-35155-6_31,
        author={Berend (Martijn) Kuipers and Ricardo Vaz and Mario Nunes},
        title={Robust Video Calls for Emergency Services over IP Based Networks},
        proceedings={Mobile Multimedia Communications. 6th International ICST Conference, MOBIMEDIA 2010, Lisbon, Portugal, September 6-8, 2010. Revised Selected Papers},
        proceedings_a={MOBIMEDIA},
        year={2012},
        month={12},
        keywords={video FEC G.1070 delay packet networks},
        doi={10.1007/978-3-642-35155-6_31}
    }
    
  • Berend (Martijn) Kuipers
    Ricardo Vaz
    Mario Nunes
    Year: 2012
    Robust Video Calls for Emergency Services over IP Based Networks
    MOBIMEDIA
    Springer
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-35155-6_31
Berend (Martijn) Kuipers1,*, Ricardo Vaz1,*, Mario Nunes1,*
  • 1: INESC-ID
*Contact email: martijn.kuipers@inesc-id.pt, ricardo.vaz@inesc-id.pt, mario.nunes@inesc-id.pt

Abstract

Network links in emergency or rescue scenarios often operate under difficult circumstances, which makes live video feedback almost unusable. Received video quality is dependent on the available link rate and the packet loss ratio, which are inter-related in a congested network link. Even low packet loss ratios (PLRs) can significantly reduce the video quality. In this paper, a packet level parity Forward Error Correction (FEC) is applied to the video stream in order to reduce the video PLR. A constant gross data rate is assumed, such that adding a FEC leads to a decrease in effective video data rate. The FEC block is truncated at the end of each video frame, such that there are no inter-frame dependencies for FEC correction. An algorithm is proposed to optimize the FEC length, based on the Quality of Experience as modelled by the ITU-T R G.1070 standard. It is shown that the optimization algorithm can significantly increase the video quality, without increasing the gross data rate. The algorithm has been evaluated through simulations, which confirm the very significant increases in subjective video quality.