Unequal error protection for real-time video in mobile ad hoc networks via multi-path transport

In this paper, we propose a mechanism that combines retransmission-based error control with multi-path transport (MPT), to provide different levels of protection to real-time video in ad hoc networks. The mechanism factors in the importance of the retransmitted packets to the reconstructed video quality as well as the end-to-end latency constraints to minimize the overhead and maximize the reconstructed video quality at the receiver. Simulation results show that the proposed retransmission mechanism maintains the video quality under different loss rates and mobility speeds, with less overhead compared to error control methods that depend on controlling the intra-update rate. In addition, the mechanism is shown to be more robust to wireless losses and mobility than schemes that combine layered and multiple description coding with multi-path transport.