Rate control for video coding over variable bit rate channels with applications to wireless transmission

Video transmission over wireless links is an emerging application which involves a time-varying channel. In this paper we propose that rate control algorithms should be used at the video encoders, along with models of the channel behavior, to improve the performance of such systems. Rather than letting information be lost as the channel conditions change, in our scheme channel state information is fed back to the encoder. We propose a method, based on dynamic programming, to compute the rate-distortion performance for a given channel and source realization. We show how the rate-distortion performance changes with end-to-end delay and feedback delay