On the Transport of Multiple-Description Coded Messages Over Frequency Hopping Wireless Networks

This paper is concerned with the transmission of multiple description coded (MDC) messages over frequency hopping multiple access wireless networks. We address the problem of optimal allocation of the MDC representations within transmitted packets in an interference limited environment. Taking into account the correlation between the interference experienced by the two representations of a Double-Description Coded (DDC) message, we develop a new mathematical analysis for computing the average distortion. It is shown that when a packet is subjected to a number of random interfering packets, then the quality of reception depends on the relative location of the representations within the transmitted packet. Furthermore, the average distortion is minimized when the representations are allocated at the opposite edges of the packet, resulting in a relative improvement in the required signal to noise ratio (SNR) that, depending on the number of interfering packets, exceeds 4 dB.