Collaborative Multimedia Source-Protocol Coordination: A Cross-Layer QoE Study in Modern Wireless Networks

Abstract

Multiple image/video source neighbors in modern wireless systems such as device-to-device (D2D) networks can significantly improve multimedia quality of experience (QoE) in content sharing. However, the exploration of multisource diversity in multimedia communications has largely been overlooked in the past. In this paper, we propose a new scheme to improve user equipment's (UE) multimedia QoE by optimizing the source traffic dispatching and resource allocation strategies from multiple UE sources in cross-layer wireless D2D networks while assuring the latency constraint. This approach results in two major contributions. First, the proposed approach optimally controls the source server traffic for each multimedia packet with regard to distortion reduction (e.g., quality contribution) and the channel conditions. Second, optimal packet retry limits are adjusted on each direct D2D communication link to achieve effective but unequal resource allocation. Simulation results show that the cross-layer collaborative source-level traffic control and protocol-level resource optimization strategy improve D2D multimedia transmission quality.