Chapter 2 Overview of 802.16e System
2.2 Introduction to MAC Layer of 802.16e MAC
2.2.4 QoS Based Service Classes
The IEEE 802.16e standard provides several QoS classes for different kinds of services. For different QoS classes, system sets different parameters and transmission/request methods to meet the requirement of different kinds of service.
Here will introduce these classes:
1) Unsolicited Grant Service (UGS) : Designed to support real-time service flows that generate fixed-size data packets periodically, such as T1/E1 and VoIP without silence suppression.
2) Real-time Polling Service (rtPS) : Designed to support real-time service flows that generate variable-size data packets, such as Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) video.
3) Extended Real-time Polling Service (ertPS) : A scheduling mechanism that builds on the efficiency of both UGS and rtPS. The BS provides unsolicited unicast
grants as in UGS, thus saving the latency of a bandwidth request. However, UGS allocations are fixed in size, whereas ertPS allocations are dynamic.
4) Non-real-time Polling Service (nrtPS) : The nrtPS is designed for non-real-time service that can tolerate more delay, such as FTP, web-browsing and so on.
5) Best Effort Service (BE) : BE service is with the lowest QoS level. These kinds of service are designed to support data streams for which no minimum service level is required and therefore may be handled on a space-available basis.
CHAPTER 3
OVERVIEW OF SCALABLE VIDEO CODING
3.1 Introduction to Scalable Video Coding
Data networks for video communication are growing fast nowadays. The environment varies from broadband cable/ADSL networks to wireless/mobile networks. Besides, the display monitors of the devices are also diversified. It may be a small size screen on a mobile device or a high definition projection system. For different applications on various devices or under different network conditions, the available bandwidth and resource may be highly divergent. To overcome different application scenarios, the idea of scalable video coding is proposed.
The scalable video coding (SVC) standard [5] is an extension of the H.264/AVC standard [6] developed by the Joint Video Team (JVT) that uses a single bit-stream to provide multiple frame rates, frame sizes and quality levels while achieving a reasonable coding efficiency.
3.2 Encoder Overview
The SVC encodes the video into multiple spatial, temporal, and SNR layers for combined scalability. Figure 7 shows the generic structure of an SVC encoder with three spatial layers.
Figure 7 SVC encoder structure with three spatial layers [7]
SVC encoder provides three different scalable features in spatial, temporal and SNR layer respectively. Spatial scalability and CGS are achieved by multiple layers with a pyramid structure. Temporal scalability is achieved by a temporal decomposition using hierarchical B pictures. FGS is achieved by encoding successive refinements of the transform coefficients.
3.3 Hierarchical-B Prediction Structure
SVC encoder uses hierarchical-B prediction structure to achieve multilevel temporal scalability. Figure 8 depicts a hierarchical-B prediction structure with 4 temporal levels and a GOP size of 8. Each key picture is either an intra-coded frame(I frame) or a P frame that uses the previous key picture as the reference picture. The picture number from 1 to 7 are B frames. Each B-frame is bi-directionally predicted
using both previously and future displayed reference pictures from the lower temporal level. The hierarchical-B structure has better coding efficiency using more efficient frame level bit allocation, especially for sequences with fine texture and regular motion.
Figure 8 Hierarchical-B prediction structure [7]
3.4 Inter-layer Prediction Structure
Figure 9 Inter-layer prediction structure with three spatial layers [7]
Interlayer prediction is dependent on the types of layers used. The spatial and CGS layers can flexibly select the reference layer from any lower layers while the FGS layer must be predicted from the previous SNR layer at the same resolution. As demonstrated by an example in Figure 9, the three columns represent three spatial resolutions: QCIF, CIF, and 4CIF. Each spatial resolution contains several SNR layers, and the arrow specifies the reference layer.
CHAPTER 4
THE PROPOSED CROSS-LAYER DESIGN
In this chapter, we will propose a mechanism and a cross-layer architecture between the SVC system and the WIMAX MAC to solve the problem discussed in chapter 1.1 and chapter 1.2.
4.1 The Design Issues
Bandwidth fluctuation in Mobile WIMAX system is caused by the variation of bandwidth allocation and the channel condition. And it brings many problems during the transportation of real time video bitstream (video conference or video telephone), such as video latency, available bandwidth wastage and buffer condition unstable. So the first design issue is latency issue, and the second design issue is the utilization of the available bandwidth.
What we have to do is to estimate a proper bitrate of the coded video bitstream for each GOP and send it to the SVC extractor. With this bitrate, the SVC extractor will extract the proper size bitstream for each GOP to transmit. So during the transportation of real time video bitstream, we could have the better performance in video latency in the receiver, and also have the efficient utilization of available bandwidth in the transmitter.
4.2 The Proposed Cross-Layer Architecture
FIGURE 10 THE PROPOSED CROSS-LAYER ARCHITECTURE
The most important component of the proposed architecture is the Bitrate Decision Engine. How to design this component will be discussed in chapter 4.3. Now we should focus on the overall coded video bitstream flow and control information flow of the proposed cross-layer architecture, as shown in Figure 10.
The video source is sent to SVC encoder, and then the coded bitstream is sent to the SVC extractor. Before the beginning of each GOP, SVC extractor will ask Bitrate Decision Engine to feedback the extracted video bitrate, and uses this bitrate to extract the proper size of bitstream for this GOP.
There is one buffer between MAC and SVC extractor. It is FIFO buffer. When the SVC extractor starts to extract the SVC bitstream, it will ask MAC to transmit the data in buffer at the same time.
There are two inputs of the Bitrate Decision Engine. One is the size of data stored in buffer. The other is the available bandwidth information of the period in the past. With the input information, the bitrate decision engine will decide the bitrate of the coded video bitstream for the present GOP.
4.3 The Bitrate Decision Engine
In chapter 4.2, we have mentioned that SVC extractor will ask Bitrate Decision Engine to feedback the extracted video bitratebefore the beginning of each GOP. To achieve a better performance, an enhanced feedback control mechanism will be proposed.
Before the discussion of the proposed enhanced feedback control mechanism, we will first discuss four different conventional feedback control mechanisms.
Four different conventional feedback control mechanisms:
1) Mean Mechanism: There are 53 transmission frames (one frame is 5 ms in WIMAX system) in each GOP period (one GOP period is 8/30 seconds in our thesis). The Mean Mechanism uses the average transmission bitrate of the last GOP period to be the extracted video bitrate for the present GOP period. The formula is shown in eq(1).
EN = DN + ⋯ + DN−52
T × 53 (1)
2) Median Mechanism: There are 53 transmission bitrates for each transmission frame in the last GOP period. And the Median Mechanism uses the median of these transmission bitrate to be the extracted video bitrate for the present GOP period. The formula is shown in eq(2).
EN = median of DN−52
T 、… 、DN
T (2)
3) IIR Mechanism : IIR Mechanism is adopted by [1]. The formula is shown in eq(3).
EN = p × EN−1+ (1 − p) × DN
T (3)
4) Instant Mechanism: Instant Mechanism uses the first transmission bitrate in the present GOP period to be the extracted video bitrate for the present GOP period. The formula is shown in eq(4).
EN =DN
T (4)
where
EN: the extracted video bitrate for the present GOP period (bits/sec) EN−1: the extracted video bitrate for last GOP period (bits/sec)
DN : the data size which can be transmitted at the first transmission frame of this GOP period (bits)
DN−i: the data size which can be transmitted at the 53 − i th transmission frame
of the last GOP period (bits)
p: 0.2
T: the time of one transmission frame (sec)
Enhanced feedback control mechanism(proposed):
Enhanced feedback control mechanism is proposed to satisfy the latency issue. It modifies the extracted video bitrate decided by conventional feedback control mechanism based on the data size stored in the buffer. The modification size is shown in eq(5) :
∆ = α × DB
N × T (5)
where
∆∶ the modification size (bits/sec)
DB: the data stored in the buffer which the MAC is transmitting (bits)
T: the time of one transmission frame (sec)
N: the number of transmission frames in one GOP period
α: the cofficient of the modification size, 0 ≤ α ≤ 1. In our thesis, α is set to 0.3 by experiment
Finally, the Bitrate Decision Engine will send the modified extracted video bitrate to the SVC extracter. The formula is shown in eq(6) :
Modified extracted video bitrate = EN − ∆ (6)
where
EN: the extracted video bitrate decided by conventional feedback control mechanism
for the present GOP period (bits/sec)
4.4 Discussion: The reason why enhanced feedback control mechanism can improve the performance of latency issue
Sometimes, the extracted SVC data which can’t be transmitted to the receiver in its GOP period will be stored in MAC buffer, and it will be transmitted during the next GOP period. The data which can’t be transmitted to the receiver in its GOP period is named Delay Data.
There are two types of data which need to be transmitted during the present GOP period. One is the Delay Data. The other is the extracted SVC bitstream of the present GOP. Therefore, we need to divide the transmission bitrate of the present GOP period into two parts. One part is used to transmit the extracted SVC bitstream of the present GOP. The other part is used to transmit the Delay Data.
The transmission bitrate for the present GOP period, EN , is decided by conventional feedback control mechanism, and we divide it into two parts, ∆ and EN − ∆. The ∆ decided by enhanced feedback control mechanism is used to transmit the Delay Data. EN− ∆ is used to transmit the extracted SVC bitstream of the present GOP.
So the reason why enhanced feedback control mechanism can improve the performance of latency issue is because we reserve one part of the transmission bitrate,
∆ , and use it to transmit the Delay Data.
CHAPTER 5
SIMULATION SETUP AND RESULTS
5.1 Simulation Setup 5.1.1 Cell Plane
FIGURE 11 CELL PLANE
As shown in Figure 11, there are 19 cells in the simulation platform. The cell radius is 1km. And the resue factor and BS sector are both three. The interference cells are marked red color. So there are six interference links and one useful link during uplink transmission.
Based on the cell plane, the SINR formula of the uplink transmission is shown in eq(7).
SINRdB = 10log Pt pi
6i=1 + Noise (7)
where
pt ∶ received power at BS
pi ∶ interference power at the BS
Noise ∶ the noise power
pt and pi is impacted by pass loss, shadowing and BS antenna pattern. And we will introduce BS antenna pattern, path loss model and shadowing model in chapter 5.1.2 , chapter 5.1.3 and chapter 5.1.4.
5.1.2 BS Antenna Pattern For 3-sector Cells
FIGURE 12 ANTENNA PATTERN FOR 3-SECTOR CELLS
As shown in Figure 12, this antenna pattern [8] is used in our simulation platform. And the formula of antenna gain is shown in eq(8).
A θ = −min 12 θ Am = 20dB is the maximum attenuation
5.1.3 Path Loss Model
The pathloss model [8] is used to simulate the degradation of signal strength with increasing distance between transmitter and receiver. The formula is shown in eq(9).
PL dB =
ht = height of RS
a = 3.6，b = 0.005，c = 20
5.1.4 Shadowing Model
Shadowing fading effect is the increase or decrease of signal strength due to the shelters, like buildings or mountains, on the signal transmitted path. According to the test result of the real wireless environment, it is known that the variant of shadow fading is a log-normal distribution [8]. Hence, log-normal distribution is applied to simulate shadowing fading effect. In our simulation platform, the standard deviation is set to 8 dB.
If the location of the MS does not change too much, the variance of shadow fading will have a correlated relationship associated with the distance the MS moves during the time duration between two neighbor simulation drops. The correlation model [8] is shown in eq(10):
ρ Δx = e−d Δx corln 2 (10)
where
ρ is the auto − correlation constant between two simulation drops
Δx is the distance of two simulation time drops
dcor is decorrelation distance, in our simulation platform, we set it to 50m
5.1.5 Available Slots of UL-MAP Simulation
In our thesis, we simulate the available slots in UL-MAP for each uplink subframe by the formula (11).
Available_slotsi = G × N (11)
where
Available_slotsi ∶ the available slots for the MS in the ith uplink subframe
G : G is a Gaussion random variable with the predetermined mean and variance, and
the predetermined mean and variance are fixed number during simulation. G
represents the percentage of the available slots in the ith uplink subframe.
N : the total number of slots in the ith uplink subframe
5.1.6 System Parameters Setting
TABLE 2 SYSTEM PARAMETERS SETTING
Cell plane 19 cells
Sectors per cell 3
Frequency reuse factor (3,3,3)
Available Bandwidth 30MHz with reuse factor (3,3,3) Antenna pattern 70° with 20dB front to back ratio
According to []
Cell radius 1 km
Duplex TDD
DL/UL subframe ratio 28:19
Frame length 5ms,according to []
OFDMA symbols per slot 3 symbols (UL-PUSC slot) Thermal noise density -173.93 dB/Hz, according to []
MS Tx power 27dBm
MS antenna gain 3 dBi, according to []
5.2 Simulation Results
5.2.1 Performance of conventional feedback control mechanism
5.2.1.1 Video Latency
P_Zero : the probability that decoder buffer has no data to decode Variance : the variance of the available slots
FIGURE 13 GRAPH OF TABLE 3
5.2.1.2 MAC Buffer Condition
TABLE 4 MAC BUFFER CONDITION PERFORMANCE
Variance = 0.1 Variance = 0.5 Variance = 1 Variance = 5
Av_MB_Mean 2006.4 2035.4 2038.5 2405.7
Av_MB_Median 4783.7 4151.5 2504.2 1362.9
Av_MB_IIR 6693.8 5939.8 5253.8 12693.3
Av_MB_ Instant 6573.4 6206 5309.1 12587.6
Where
Av_MB : the average size of data stored in MAC buffer Variance : the variance of the available slots
Units : byte
FIGURE 14 GRAPH OF TABLE 4
5.2.1.3 Available Bandwidth Utilization
TABLE 5 AVAILABLE BANDWIDTH UTILIZATION PERFORMANCE Variance = 0.1 Variance = 0.5 Variance = 1 Variance = 5
Where
Ut : represents the utilization of available bandwidth, the formula is shown as eq(12):
Ut = TDatai i
ADatai i (12)
TDatai is the data size transmitted in the ith uplink subframe
ADatai is the maximun data size which the MS can transmit in the ith uplink subframe Variance : the variance of the available slots
FIGURE 15 GRAPH OF TABLE 5
With each conventional feedback control mechanism, although the performance of available bandwidth utilization is good, but we can see that the probability which decoder buffer has no data to decode is not lower enough, and the
97.00%
average size of data stored in MAC buffer is not smaller enough also. So we need to improve the performance of conventional feedback control mechanism in these two issues.
5.2.2 Performance of enhanced feedback control mechanism
5.2.2.1 Video Latency
P_Zero : the probability that decoder buffer has no data to decode Variance : the variance of the available slots
FIGURE 16 GRAPH OF TABLE 6
FIGURE 17 COMPARED WITH CONVENTIONAL IN MEAN
FIGURE 18 COMPARED WITH CONVENTIONAL IN MEDIAN Mean_enhanced
FIGURE 19 COMPARED WITH CONVENTIONAL IN IIR
FIGURE 20 COMPARED WITH CONVENTIONAL IN INSTANT
5.2.2.2 MAC Buffer Condition
TABLE 7 MAC BUFFER CONDITION PERFORMANCE
Variance = 0.1 Variance = 0.5 Variance = 1 Variance = 5
Where
Av_MB : the average size of data stored in MAC buffer Variance : the variance of the available slots
Units : byte
FIGURE 21 GRAPH OF TABLE 7
FIGURE 22 COMPARED WITH CONVENTIONAL IN MEAN 0
FIGURE 23 COMPARED WITH CONVENTIONAL IN MEDIAN
FIGURE 24 COMPARED WITH CONVENTIONAL IN IIR Median_enhanced
FIGURE 25 COMPARED WITH CONVENTIONAL IN INSTANT
5.2.2.3 Available Bandwidth Utilization
TABLE 8 AVAILABLE BANDWIDTH UTILIZATION PERFORMANCE Variance = 0.1 Variance = 0.5 Variance = 1 Variance = 5
Ut : represents the utilization of the available bandwidth, the formula is shown as (13):
Ut = TDatai i
ADatai i (13)
TDatai is the data size transmitted in the ith uplink subframe
ADatai is the maximun data size which the MS can transmit in the ith uplink subframe Variance : the variance of the the available slots
Instant_enhanced
FIGURE 26 GRAPH OF TABLE 8
FIGURE 27 COMPARED WITH CONVENTIONAL IN MEAN 97.20%
FIGURE 28 COMPARED WITH CONVENTIONAL IN MEDIAN
FIGURE 29 COMPARED WITH CONVENTIONAL IN IIR Median_enhanced
FIGURE 30 COMPARED WITH CONVENTIONAL IN INSTANT
5.2.2.4 Discussion
We should notice that the Delay Data stored in MAC buffer is bad to SVC decoder, because the SVC decoder will have less data to decode, and may cause video latency in the receiver. With enhanced feedback control mechanism, we modify the extracted video bitrate according to the size of data stored in MAC buffer. So we can greatly reduce the size of data stored in MAC buffer, and also improve the performance of the video latency. From the performance of enhanced feedback control mechanism, we can see that the probability of video latency is much lower than conventional feedback control mechanism and the size of data stored in MAC buffer is much smaller than conventional feedback control mechanism, too.
Instnat_enhanced
CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION
6.1 Conclusion
In our thesis, the goal is to transmit real time video bitstream over wireless channel with less video latency at the receiver. Based on the goal, we have two contributions. One is that we propose a cross-layer architecture to transmit to real time video bitstream. The other is that we propose a enhanced feedback control machanism, which can decide a proper video bitrate for each GOP. With the contributions, we can have two benefits,
1) Smaller MAC Buffer
2) Lower probability of video latency
In the other hand, our research can also apply to the most popular compression system, H.264 system, because H.264 also has rate control mechanism which can control the video bitrate according to the bandwidth condition. And this mechanism just like the function of the SVC extractor. So in our proposed architecture, the SVC encoder can be replaced by the H.264 encoder, and the SVC extractor can be replaced by the H.264 rate control mechanism. And the enhanced feedback control mechanism can apply to this new cross-layer architecture undoubtedly.
6.2 Future Work
In our thesis, we focus on the optimization of unicast transmission. But the most powerful function of SVC system is multicast or broadcast transmission. We need to find solution to optimize the multicast or broadcast transmission. And thus we will
have the total solution to transmit the real time video bitstream in WIMAX system, whether in unicast, multicast or broadcast.
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