Encoder rate control for block-based distributed video coding

Distributed video coding is a new paradigm for video compression based on the Slepian-Wolf and Wyner-Ziv theorems. Wyner-Ziv video coding, a lossy compression with receiver side information, enables low-complexity video encoding at the expense of a complex decoder. Most of the existing distributed video coding techniques require a feedback channel to determine the number of parity bits for decoding Wyner-Ziv frames at the decoder. However, a feedback channel is not available for some applications or a feedback channel-based decoder rate control may not be used due to delay constraints in wireless video sensor network applications. In this paper, an encoder-based rate control method for distributed video coding is proposed. The proposed solution consists of a low complexity side information generation method at the encoder and a rate estimation algorithm that determines the number of parity bits to be transmitted to the decoder. The performance of the proposed algorithm is compared with existing encoder-based rate control methods and a decoder-based rate control algorithm based on a feedback channel.