An optimal code rate design of multilevel coded modulation for multimedia data transmission employing unequal error protection

In this paper, we propose a novel unequal error protection (UEP) design based on multilevel coded modulation (MLC) for a broadcasting system which attempts to maximize average user satisfaction within the coverage area of the transmitter. To this end, a new quantitative measure is introduced that takes into account both quality of the received data and the distance of the user location from the transmitter. Based on the proposed measure, an optimal rate allocation algorithm utilizing the capacity rule is developed for MLC. As a specific example, by employing JPEG images for source coding and modern capacity-approaching codes for component codes of MLC, our numerical results reveal that well-designed MLC systems can provide better average user satisfaction than a conventional coded modulation (CM) system.