Rate-constrained adaptive FEC for video over erasure channels with memory

Current adaptive FEC schemes used for video streaming applications alter the redundancy in a block of message packets to adapt to varying channel conditions. However, for many popular streaming applications, both the source-rate and the available bandwidth are constrained. In this paper, we present FEC codes that can adapt in real-time to provide higher source-packets recovery without changing the FEC block (N, K) pair constraint. The FEC code profile is changed as function of the number of losses to facilitate an improved data recovery even under severe channel conditions (e.g., number of losses within an N-packet FEC block is larger than N-K). We present a feedback based adaptive FEC scheme, which can adapt in a rate-constrained manner. We also illustrate the utility of this scheme for video streaming applications by analyzing the results of extensive video simulations and comparing our performance to adaptive Reed Solomon FEC schemes. We consider a variety of video sequences and use actual packet traces from WLAN (802.11b) and wired Internet environments. Comparison between the two schemes is conducted on the basis of message packet recovery, PSNR, model based perceptual evaluation and visual subjective evaluation. It is shown that the proposed scheme can significantly improve the video quality and in particular reduce the jerkiness in the received video.