A Hybrid Unequal Error Protection / Unequal Error Resilience Scheme for JPEG Image Transmission using OFDM

Abstract

This paper combines two major error control coding techniques alongside the highly efficient Orthogonal  Frequency Division Multiplexing scheme to provide a sophisticated and reliable framework for JPEG image  transmission. The image to be transmitted is first spilt into different quality layers of unequal importance by  the use of the progressive JPEG encoding technique. The quality layers are then assigned an Unequal Error Resilience to synchronization loss by unequally allocating the number of headers available for synchronization to them. Following that Unequal Error Protection against channel noise is provided to the layers by the use of Rate Compatible Punctured Convolutional Coding. Finally to provide greater bandwidth efficiency and protection against intersymbol interference, the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing scheme has been used. The proposed scheme provides a significant gain in image quality over a scheme that uses Equal Error  Protection and Equal Error Resilience. The image quality has been evaluated in terms of the Peak to Peak Signal to Noise power Ratio (PSNR) and the Mean  Structural Similarity Index (MSSIM) metric.

Keywords: UEP, UER, JPEG Image Transmission, OFDM.