Parity-based loss recovery for reliable multicast transmission

We investigate how forward error correction (FEC) can be combined with automatic repeat request (ARQ) to achieve scalable reliable multicast transmission. We consider the two scenarios where FEC is introduced as a transparent layer underneath a reliable multicast layer that uses ARQ, and where FEC and ARQ are both integrated into a single layer that uses the retransmission of parity data to recover from the loss of original data packets. To evaluate the performance improvements due to FEC, we consider different loss rates and different types of loss behavior (spatially or temporally correlated loss, homogeneous or heterogeneous loss) for up to 10⁶ receivers. Our results show that introducing FEC as a transparent layer below ARQ can improve multicast transmission efficiency and scalability. However, there are substantial additional improvements when FEC and ARQ are integrated     

Graceful Degradation FEC Layer for Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service in LTE Mobile Systems

This paper proposes an additional forward error correction (FEC) layer to compensate for the defectiveness inherent in the conventional FEC layer in the Long Term Evolution specifications. The proposed additional layer is called a graceful degradation (GD)‐FEC layer and maintains desirable service quality even under burst data loss conditions of a few seconds. This paper also proposes a non‐delayed decoding (NDD)‐GD‐FEC layer that is inherent in the decoding process. Computer simulations and device‐based tests show a better loss recovery performance with a negligible increase in CPU utilization and occupied memory size.     

Joint source/FEC rate selection for quality-optimal MPEG-2 videodelivery

This paper deals with the optimal allocation of MPEG-2 encoding and media-independent forward error correction (FEC) rates under a total given bandwidth. The optimality is defined in terms of minimum perceptual distortion given a set of video and network parameters. We first derive the set of equations leading to the residual loss process parameters. That is, the packet loss ratio (PLR) and the average burst length after FEC decoding. We then show that the perceptual source distortion decreases exponentially with the increasing MPEG-2 source rate. We also demonstrate that the perceptual distortion due to data loss is directly proportional to the number of lost macroblocks, and therefore decreases with the amount of channel protection. Finally, we derive the global set of equations that lead to the optimal dynamic rate allocation. The optimal distribution is shown to outperform classical FEC scheme, thanks to its adaptivity to the scene complexity, the available bandwidth and to the network performance. Furthermore, our approach holds for any standard video compression algorithms (i.e., MPEG-x, H.26x).     

Performance modeling of FEC‐based unequal error protection for H.264/AVC video streaming over burst‐loss channels

Unequal error protection systems are a popular technique for video streaming. Forward error correction (FEC) is one of error control techniques to improve the quality of video streaming over lossy channels. Moreover, frame‐level FEC techniques have been proposed for video streaming because of different priority video frames within the transmission rate constraint on a Bernoulli channel. However, various communication and storage systems are likely corrupted by bursts of noise in the current wireless behavior. If the burst losses go beyond the protection capacity of FEC, the efficacy of FEC can be degraded. Therefore, our proposed model allows an assessment of the perceived quality of H.264/AVC video streaming over bursty channels, and is validated by simulation experiments on the NS‐2 network simulator at a given estimate of the packet loss ratio and average burst length. The results suggest a useful reference in designing the FEC scheme for video applications, and as the video coding and channel parameters are given, the proposed model can provide a more accurate evaluation tool for video streaming over bursty channels and help to evaluate the impact of FEC performance on different burst‐loss parameters. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the effects of the packet size distribution on the packet loss process

Real-time multimedia applications have to use forward error correction (FEC) anderror concealment techniques to cope with losses in today’s best-effort Internet. The efficiency of these solutions is known however to depend on the correlation between losses in the media stream. In this paper we investigate how the packet size distribution affects the packet loss process, that is, the distribution of the number of lost packets in a block, the related FEC performance and the average loss run length. We present mathematical models for the loss process of the MMPP+M/D/1/K and the MMPP+M/M/1/K queues; we validate the models via simulations, and compare the results to simulation results with an MPEG-4 coded video trace. We conclude that the deterministic packet size distribution (PSD) not only results in lower stationary loss probability than the exponential one, but also gives a less correlated loss process, both at a particular average link load and at a particular stationary loss probability as seen by the media stream.Our results show that for applications that can only measure the packet loss probability, the effects of the PSD on FEC performance are higher in access networks, where a single multimedia stream might affect the multiplexing behavior. Our results show that the effects of the PSD on FEC performance are higher in access networks, where a single multimedia stream might affect the multiplexing behavior and thus can improve the queuing performance by decreasing the variance of its PSD.     

Small‐block interleaving for low‐delay cross‐packet forward error correction over burst‐loss channels

By adding the redundant packets into source packet block, cross‐packet forward error correction (FEC) scheme performs error correction across packets and can recover both congestion packet loss and wireless bit errors accordingly. Because cross‐packet FEC typically trades the additional latency to combat burst losses in the wireless channel, this paper presents a FEC enhancement scheme using the small‐block interleaving technique to enhance cross‐packet FEC with the decreased delay and improved good‐put. Specifically, adopting short block size is effective in reducing FEC processing delay, whereas the corresponding effect of lower burst‐error correction capacity can be compensated by deliberately controlling the interleaving degree. The main features include (i) the proposed scheme that operates in the post‐processing manner to be compatible with the existing FEC control schemes and (ii) to maximize the data good‐put in lossy networks; an analytical FEC model is built on the interleaved Gilbert‐Elliott channel to determine the optimal FEC parameters. The simulation results show that the small‐block interleaved FEC scheme significantly improves the video streaming quality in lossy channels for delay‐sensitive video. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling TCP SACK performance over wireless channels with semi-reliable ARQ/FEC

Providing reliable data communications over wireless channels is a challenging task because time-varying wireless channel characteristics often lead to bit errors. These errors result in loss of IP packets and, consequently, TCP segments encapsulated into these packets. Since TCP cannot distinguish packet losses due to bit corruption from those due to network congestion, any packet loss caused by wireless channel impairments leads to unnecessary execution of the TCP congestion control algorithms and, hence, sub-optimal performance. Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) and Forward Error Correction (FEC) try to improve communication reliability and reduce packet losses by detecting and recovering corrupted bits. Most analytical models that studied the effect of ARQ and FEC on TCP performance assumed that the ARQ scheme is perfectly persistent (i.e., completely reliable), thus a frame is always successfully transmitted irrespective of the number of transmission attempts it takes. In this paper, we develop an analytical cross-layer model for a TCP connection running over a wireless channel with a semi-reliable ARQ scheme, where the amount of transmission attempts is limited by some number. The model allows to evaluate the joint effect of stochastic properties of the wireless channel characteristics and various implementation-specific parameters on TCP performance, which makes it suitable for performance optimization studies. The input parameters include the bit error rate, the value of the normalized autocorrelation function of bit error observations at lag 1, the strength of the FEC code, the persistency of ARQ, the size of protocol data units at different layers, the raw data rate of the wireless channel, and the bottleneck link buffer size.     

Scene content driven FEC allocation for video streaming

Unequal error protection schemes applied on video data streams, considering varying importance of data packets over a group of pictures (GOP), are more efficient in terms of rate-distortion performance at different loss rates. Importance ordering policy adopted so far, mostly considered frame positions within a GOP. In the present work, we offer significant importance to the packets containing scene-transition frames, as these should be better error protected. We adopt a strategy of Forward Error Correcting (FEC) Code allocation, based on the minimization of end-to-end distortion up to the decoder, assuming that error concealment is adopted at the decoder. Two FEC allocation strategies are proposed within the Block of Packets (BOP) structure — one is an iterative modified hill climbing approach and the other is a reduced complexity heuristic approach. The Gilbert–Elliot model is used for the modeling of transmission channel. The proposed FEC allocation schemes outperform existing FEC allocation schemes in terms of PSNR for sequences with and without transitions, when transmitted over lossy channels.     

Performance evaluation of forward error correction in an ATMenvironment

The loss behavior of a cell multiplexer and the performance of forward error correction (FEC) for two homogeneous and one heterogeneous traffic scenarios are discussed. The loss behavior depends on the statistics of the source and on the traffic scenario. Simulation results indicate that the percentage of cells lost in a block is geometrically distributed. Using these results a mathematical model for the performance of FEC is developed, and the effectiveness of FEC for the three traffic scenarios is computed. It is shown that FEC is not effective for the two homogeneous scenarios. However, FEC reduces the loss rate for the video sources by several orders of magnitude for a heterogeneous scenario consisting of video and burst sources     

Estimation of packet losses due to propagation impairments: Application to TCP performance over satellite

The transmission control protocol (TCP) is widely used to provide reliable data transmission due to its congestion and flow control mechanisms that provide reliable error recovery in higher layers. In satellite links, various atmospheric phenomena may lead to high packet loss rate (PLR) degrading the TCP throughput. Modern satellite systems operate at frequencies above 10 GHz, where rainfall is the dominant fading mechanism leading to high bit error ratio and correlated packet losses. In this paper, a mathematical analysis is presented to accurately describe the statistical properties of the packet‐error process in a dynamically varying satellite channel. The proposed method is extended to provide PLR estimations when block forward error correction (FEC) is employed. A new Markov‐based method, based on the previous analysis and adapted to the rain‐faded satellite channel, is also presented for the estimation of TCP SACK throughput and tested against simulation results. Based on the information provided by the packet‐error model, a study between the TCP performance under various FEC schemes and a proposed adaptive FEC scheme has provided indications about the superiority of the proposed model. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rate-distortion optimized hybrid error control for real-time packetized video transmission.

The problem of application-layer error control for real-time video transmission over packet lossy networks is commonly addressed via joint source-channel coding (JSCC), where source coding and forward error correction (FEC) are jointly designed to compensate for packet losses. In this paper, we consider hybrid application-layer error correction consisting of FEC and retransmissions. The study is carried out in an integrated joint source-channel coding (IJSCC) framework, where error resilient source coding, channel coding, and error concealment are jointly considered in order to achieve the best video delivery quality. We first show the advantage of the proposed IJSCC framework as compared to a sequential JSCC approach, where error resilient source coding and channel coding are not fully integrated. In the USCC framework, we also study the performance of different error control scenarios, such as pure FEC, pure retransmission, and their combination. Pure FEC and application layer retransmissions are shown to each achieve optimal results depending on the packet loss rates and the round-trip time. A hybrid of FEC and retransmissions is shown to outperform each component individually due to its greater flexibility.     

FEC Performance Analysis Based on Poisson and Bursty Error Patterns for SDH and OTN Systems

This paper analyses and compares the performance of International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) recommended forward error correction (FEC) for the Synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) system and the newly ratified Optical transport network (OTN) system. The analysis and comparison are based on simulation results using Poisson and bursty error patterns. While a Poisson error pattern is a commonly studied environment for these systems, a bursty error pattern is not. The simulation results show that the FEC for both SDH and OTN support Poisson errors well. However, for bursty errors, it is found that the FEC for SDH does not work well, while the FEC for OTN is working well for short burst length only.     

Improved forward error correction technology of RS-LDPC cascade code in optical transport network

With the continuous development of optical communication and the increase in data transmission volume, optical transport network (OTN) has become the focus of research in next-generation transmission networks. In the process of data transmission, errors caused by noise often occur, resulting in an increase in the bit error rate (BER) and a decrease in the performance of the optical communication system. Therefore, we use forward error correction (FEC) technology in OTN for error control to improve the transmission efficiency of signals in OTN and reduce the BER. Standard FEC technology uses RS(255,239) code. On this basis, since the performance of low density parity check (LDPC) code is close to the Shannon limit, we propose a method of cascading RS code and LDPC code. Applying this improved FEC technology to OTN, the simulation results show that the improved FEC technology has a reduced BER compared with the standard FEC technology. When the BER is at the 10-3 level, the performance is improved by about 1.7 dB.     

Interleaved coding and sequential transmission scheme for packet‐level forward error correction over burst loss channels

Burst packet loss is a common problem over wired and wireless networks and leads to a significant reduction in the performance of packet‐level forward error correction (FEC) schemes used to recover packet losses during transmission. Traditional FEC interleaving methods adopt the sequential coding‐interleaved transmission (SCIT) process to encode the FEC packets sequentially and reorder the packet transmission sequence. Consequently, the burst loss effect can be mitigated at the expense of an increased end‐to‐end delay. Alternatively, the reversed interleaving scheme, namely, interleaved coding‐sequential transmission (ICST), performs FEC coding in an interleaved manner and transmits the packets sequentially based on their generation order in the application. In this study, the analytical FEC model is constructed to evaluate the performance of the SCIT and ICST schemes. From the analysis results, it can be observed that the interleaving delay of ICST FEC is reduced by transmitting the source packets immediately as they arrive from the application. Accordingly, an Enhanced ICST scheme is further proposed to trade the saved interleaving time for a greater interleaving capacity, and the corresponding packet loss rate can be minimized under a given delay constraint. The simulation results show that the Enhanced ICST scheme achieves a lower packet loss rate and a higher peak signal‐to‐noise‐ratio than the traditional SCIT and ICST schemes for video streaming applications.     

Reliable transmission of high-quality video over ATM networks

The development of broadband networks has led to the possibility of a wide variety of new and improved service offerings. Packetized video is likely to be one of the most significant high-bandwidth users of such networks. The transmission of variable bit-rate (VBR) video offers the potential promise of constant video quality but is generally accompanied by packet loss which significantly diminishes this potential. We study a class of error recovery schemes employing forward error-control (FEC) coding to recover from such losses. In particular, we show that a hybrid error recovery strategy involving the use of active FEC in tandem with simple passive error concealment schemes offers very robust performance even under high packet losses. We discuss two different methods of applying FEC to alleviate the problem of packet loss. The conventional method of applying FEC generally allocates additional bandwidth for channel coding while maintaining a specified average video coding rate. Such an approach suffers performance degradations at high loads since the bandwidth expansion associated with the use of FEC creates additional congestion that negates the potential benefit in using FEC. In contrast, we study a more efficient FEC application technique in our hybrid approach, which allocates bandwidth for channel coding by throttling the source coder rate (i.e., performing higher compression) while maintaining a fixed overall transmission rate. More specifically, we consider the performance of the hybrid approach where the bandwidth to accommodate the FEC overhead is made available by throttling the source coder rate sufficiently so that the overall rate after application of FEC is identical to that of the original unprotected system. We obtain the operational rate-distortion characteristics of such a scheme employing selected FEC codes. In doing so, we demonstrate the robust performance achieved by appropriate use of FEC under moderate-to-high packet losses in comparison to the unprotected system.     

Performance of ATM networks under hybrid ARQ/FEC error controlscheme

In ATM networks, fixed-length cells are transmitted. A cell may be discarded during the transmission due to buffer overflow or detection of errors. Cell discarding seriously degrades transmission quality. This paper analyzes a hybrid automatic repeat request/forward error control (ARQ/FEC) cell-loss recovery scheme that is applied to virtual circuits (VCs) of ATM networks. FEC is performed based on a simple single-parity code, while a Go-Back-N ARQ is employed on top of that. Both throughput efficiency and reliability analysis of the hybrid scheme are presented. In the process we investigate the interactive effects of the network parameters (number of transit nodes, traffic intensity, ARQ packet length, …) on the performance. The analysis provides a method for optimizing the FEC code size for a given network specification     

Adaptive two-stage FEC scheme for scalable video transmission over wireless networks

In this paper, we present a two-stage forward error correction (FEC) scheme with an enhanced link-layer protocol especially for multimedia data transmission over wireless LANs. At the application layer, packet-level FEC (stage-one) is added across packets to correct packet losses due to congestion and route disruption. Bit-level FEC (stage-two) is then added to both application packets and stage-one FEC packets to recover bit errors from the link layer. Then at the link layer, header-CRC/FEC is used to enhance protection and to cooperate with the two-stage FEC scheme. The proposed scheme thus provides joint protection across the protocol stack. We explore both its bandwidth efficiency and video performance for the highly efficient and scalable MC-EZBC video codec using the network simulator ns-2. Our results show that the proposed scheme can effectively increase application-layer throughput, reduce both end-to-end transmission delay and application bandwidth fluctuation, and significantly improve video performance.     

Optimal choice of Reed-Solomon codes to protect against queuing losses in wireless networks

This article proposes algorithms to determine an optimal choice of the Reed-Solomon forward error correction (FEC) code parameters (n,k) to mitigate the effects of packet loss on multimedia traffic caused by buffer overflow at a wireless base station. A network model is developed that takes into account traffic arrival rates, channel loss characteristics, the capacity of the buffer at the base station, and FEC parameters. For Poisson distributed traffic, the theory of recurrent linear equations is applied to develop a new closed form solution of low complexity of the Markov model for the buffer occupancy. For constant bit rate (CBR) traffic,an iterative procedure is developed to compute the packet loss probabilities after FEC recovery.