Multiple description video multicast in wireless ad hoc networks

• Published in: First International Conference on Broadband Networks pp. 671 - 680
• Main Authors: Shiwen Mao, Xiaolin Cheng, Hou, Y.T., Sherali, H.D.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2004
• Subjects: Ad hoc networks; Bandwidth; Feedback; Forward error correction; Intelligent networks; Mobile ad hoc networks; Multicast protocols; Peer to peer computing; Routing; Streaming media
• ISBN: 9780769522210; 0769522211
• DOI: 10.1109/BROADNETS.2004.50

We consider the problem of multicasting multiple description (MD) video in wireless ad hoc networks. We follow an application-centric, cross-layer approach with the objective of minimizing video distortion. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we propose a practical MD video multicast scheme that uses multiple trees to achieve an improved error resilience performance. The proposed scheme also takes into account highly diverse wireless link bandwidths by using scalable coding for each description, thus further improving the overall video quality. Second, we formulate the optimized multicast routing as a combinatorial optimization problem and propose an efficient genetic algorithm (GA)-based metaheuristic solution procedure. Performance comparison with existing approaches show significant gains for a wide range of network operating conditions.