| Abstract: | In this paper, we consider progressive image transmission over differentially space‐time coded orthogonal frequency‐division multiplexing (OFDM) systems and treat the problem as one of optimal joint source‐channel coding (JSCC) in the form of unequal error protection (UEP), as necessitated by embedded source coding (e.g., SPIHT and JPEG 2000). We adopt a product channel code structure that is proven to provide powerful error protection and employ low‐complexity decision‐feedback decoding for differentially space‐time coded OFDM without assuming channel state information. For a given SNR, the BER performance of the differentially space‐time coded OFDM system is treated as the channel condition in the JSCC/UEP design via a fast product code optimization algorithm so that the end‐to‐end quality of reconstructed images is optimized in the average minimum MSE sense. Extensive image transmission experiments show that SNR/BER improvements can be translated into quality gains in reconstructed images. Moreover, compared to another non‐coherent detection algorithm, i.e., the iterative receiver based on expectation‐maximization algorithm for the space‐time coded OFDM systems, differentially space‐time coded OFDM systems suffer some quality loss in reconstructed images. With the efficiency and simplicity of decision‐feedback differential decoding, differentially space‐time coded OFDM is thus a feasible modulation scheme for applications such as wireless image over mobile devices (e.g., cell phones). Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
