Multimedia traffic transmission over cognitive radio networks using multiple description coding

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a solution to multimedia transmission problem over Cognitive Radio networks in lossy environments. For Cognitive Radio networks where the spectrum is owned by Primary Users having Poissonian traffic, Secondary Users are allowed to use these spectral resources for some delay constrained multimedia applications. The service provider produces layered stream based on a progressive source coder like SPIHT. We use a specific packetization framework for Multiple Description Coding derived from the Priority Encoding Transmission to cope with both primary traffic interruptions and subchannels fading. An efficient exhaustive algorithm that implements an Unequal Loss Protection mechanism will be introduced to maximize the received PSNR as a function of our transmission model parameters. Numerical simulations for image transmission case show that the proposed scheme can protect the important layers from packet losses to a meaningful degree and improves the perceived image quality even when packet losses increase. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.