MSVQ design for packet networks with application to LSF quantization

Abstract

The design of a multi-stage vector quantizer (MSVQ) based source-channel coding system is optimized for packet networks. Resilience to packet loss is further enhanced by a proposed interleaving approach that ensures that a single lost packet only eliminates a subset of the vector stages. The design is optimized while taking into account compression efficiency, packet loss rate, and the interleaving technique in use. The new source-channel-optimized MSVQ is tested on memoryless line spectral frequency (LSF) parameter quantization in speech coders. A source-channel-optimization MSVQ is shown to yield a gain of up to 2.0 dB in SNR, for coding the LSFs, over traditional MSVQ and to substantially enhance the robustness of packetized speech transmission. Although the formulation is given in the context of packet networks, the work is directly extendible to the broader category of erasure channels.