Unequal power allocation for scalable video transmission over WiMAX

In this paper, an unequal power allocation (UPA) scheme for the transmission of SVC (scalable video coded) packets, over WiMAX communications channels is proposed. Transmission power is an important resource in wireless links, and its dynamic use enhances the successful transmission of video packets. Specifically, the proposed UPA scheme improves the decoded video quality by jointly optimizing the source rate allocated to encode the video and the power allocated to transmit the video packets. Base layer packets are allocated more power compared to enhancement layer packets, ensuring the efficient use of the available power budget. For fast, on the fly allocation of the power, lookup tables have been generated. The results show improvements in objective and subjective video quality.