An adaptive packet and block length forward error correction for video streaming over wireless networks

Video streaming over wireless networks is a challenging task due to its high error rate. Forward error correction (FEC) is a popular mechanism to recover lost packets for video streaming. Conventional FEC mechanisms use a whole redundant packet to recover the error source packet, when the packet error occurs with only a few bit errors inside. In this paper, we propose an Adaptive packet and block length FEC (APB-FEC) control mechanism. In order to overcome the high bit error rate, a small packet length reduces the packet error rate and a large FEC block length will enhance the recovery performance. Our proposed APB-FEC can obtain better recovery performance than conventional FEC mechanisms. Hence, APB-FEC can also reduce retransmission overhead. Using extensive emulations, we validate the efficiency of APB-FEC mechanism for video streaming over wireless networks.