Transmission of Still Images Using Low-Complexity Analog Joint Source-Channel Coding

Abstract

An analog joint source-channel coding (JSCC) system designed for the transmission of still images is proposed and its performance is compared to that of two digital alternatives which differ in the source encoding operation: Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) and JPEG without entropy coding (JPEGw/oEC), respectively, both relying on an optimized channel encoder–modulator tandem. Apart from a visual comparison, the figures of merit considered in the assessment are the structural similarity (SSIM) index and the time required to transmit an image through additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and Rayleigh channels. This work shows that the proposed analog system exhibits a performance similar to that of the digital scheme based on JPEG compression with a noticeable better visual degradation to the human eye, a lower computational complexity, and a negligible delay. These results confirm the suitability of analog JSCC for the transmission of still images in scenarios with severe constraints on power consumption, computational capabilities, and for real-time applications. For these reasons the proposed system is a good candidate for surveillance systems, low-constrained devices, Internet of things (IoT) applications, etc.

JSCC-Cast: A Joint Source Channel Coding Video Encoding and Transmission System with Limited Digital Metadata

“…JSCC-Cast extends our previous work on coding and transmission of still images based on analog joint source channel coding (AJSCC) techniques [ 4 ]. In order to take advantage of video spatial and temporal redundancy, first, the video sequence is split into blocks, applying to them a discrete cosine transform (DCT).…”

Transmitter Diversity Gain Technique Aided Irregular Channel Coding for Mobile Video Transmission

“…With the potential to exploit the merits of source and channel decoding for mutual advantage, Joint Source Channel Decoding (JSCD) has received significant research interest in providing the lowest possible BER on realistic channel [ 19 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. In [ 28 ], an analog low complexity Joint Source Channel Coding (JSCC) system is proposed for the transmission of still images. The authors in [ 29 , 30 , 31 ] evaluate the performance of the JSCC and find that it could be jointly optimized as one pair for achieving a lower BER.…”

Analog Video Encoding and Quality Evaluation

“…We propose two analog schemes for video encoding: one using the 2D-DCT and another one employing the 3D-DCT. The 2D-DCT system encodes each individual video frame using the analog scheme proposed in [4] for still images, although in this case the correlation between frames is not considered. In this system, each frame is divided into 8 × 8 blocks and the DCT transformation is applied to each block.…”