A hybrid adaptive compression scheme for Multimedia Streaming over wireless networks

Abstract

Due to their unpredictable and fluctuating behavior, the wireless networks cannot always deliver the bandwidth needed for transporting the desired content and state of the overall network is always varying. This means, to reduce the information loss rate in such networks, we need an adaptive compression scheme which adjusts itself to the varying bandwidth conditions and dictate the maximum efficiency. In this paper, we propose a hybrid adaptive compression (HAC) scheme, that adaptively integrates frame dropping and transrating techniques, specifically for real time transmission. Under deteriorating network conditions frame dropping technique is used in which, only less important frames, i.e. B-frames or P-frames of the transport stream, are dropped. If network conditions worsen such that I-frames start dropping, then transrating is triggered. In this way an efficient link monitoring is implemented through this adaptive compression technique. Results show that the video quality is preserved by minimizing the frame dropping rate.