Reliable Multimedia Download Delivery in Cellular Broadcast Networks

Abstract

Raptor codes have been standardized as application layer forward error correction (FEC) codes for Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Services (MBMS) and Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) due to their extraordinary advanced FEC protection and performance. Raptor codes are known to have characteristics very close to ideal and provide a wide range of operating flexibility and efficiency unmatched by other codes, and in particular they are an excellent implementation of fountain codes. Until now, investigations of the application of Raptor codes to UMTS and EPGRS have used an overall system model that does not accurately model the physical channel and user mobility, simplistically assuming independent random packet losses at the application layer. We investigate MBMS in UMTS in a much more realistic and complete simulation environment by considering advanced and complete channel models that simulate the physical channel and user mobility in a cellular network. We use this realisitic simulation environment to determine optimal system parameters under different mobility models, with different bearer parameters, and without and with selective combining. More specifically, we investigate joint settings of the Raptor code rate, the Turbo code rate, transmission power, etc., to find settings which provide reliable download delivery of files using minimal transmission energy. One of our main results is that optimal system-wide operating points use low transmission power and a modest amount of Turbo coding that results in relatively large radio packet loss rates that is compensated for by using a substantial amount of Raptor coding. These optimal operating points use far less transmission energy for download delivery of files than possible operating points without Raptor