Unequal error protection scheme for layered sources transmission over MIMO systems using spatial diversity and multiplexing technology

This paper proposes a hybrid scheme of the Alamouti coding and vertical bell labs layered space-time (V-BLAST) with the zero-forcing (ZF) receiver, which can achieve the unequal error protection (UEP) transmission in terms of the differences of importance in the layered sources. We analyze the tradeoff between spatial diversity and multiplexing in a mathematical manner, and prove the monotonic behavior of the crosspoint. Based on this scheme, we adopt V-BLAST to provide high data rates for the enhancement layer (EL) bitstreams, and adopt Alamouti coding to guarantee high reliability for the base layer (BL) bitstreams. Meanwhile, to improve the transmission reliability for the layered sources under the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system with the limited-bandwidth and the total limited power, and to raise the frequency bandwidth efficiency, we take the power allocation considered in this proposed scheme. The simulation results show that the hybrid scheme has the average 1.9 dB and 1.3 dB gain in video peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), compared with the pure spatial diversity and pure spatial multiplexing scheme, respectively.