Quality-optimised MPEG2 video data rate control using fuzzy logic techniques

Abstract

Fuzzy logic control has been employed to improve the rate control mechanism for a MPEG2 video encoder. The data rate of compressed video is controlled by video encoders for either variable bit rate (VBR) or constant bit rate (CBR) applications. In VBR video transmission, it is considered to be more efficient to regulate the video rate by the video coder than by network management in order to avoid network congestion and maintain stable video quality. This rationale can also be applied to CBR transmission. Two fuzzy-logic-based rate control techniques are proposed which maintain the buffer occupancy within a specified range. In the proposed technique for VBR applications, a video quality measure is taken as the crucial control parameter. In CBR rate control, the video data rate or the buffer occupancy is also considered as a fuzzy logic variable. The proposed techniques are designed to control either data rate or video quality, depending on the mode of transmission, i.e. CBR or VBR for the MPEG2 encoder. The performance is compared to a typical VBR MPEG video coder with fixed quantiser step sizes for VBR and also to the CBR video coder with MPEG2 TM5 at typical channel rates. Simulation results are presented with peak signal-to-noise ratio, data rate variation and buffer occupancy as the performance measures.