On Path Selection and Rate Allocation for Video in Wireless Mesh Networks

Multi-path transport is an important mechanism for supporting video communications in multihop wireless networks. In this paper, we investigate the joint problem of optimal path selection and rate allocation for multiple video sessions in a wireless mesh network. We present a mathematical formulation to optimize the application level performance (i.e., video distortion) in the context of path selection and rate allocation. For this complex optimization problem, we propose a branch-and-bound based solution procedure, embedded with the reformulation-linearization technique (RLT) that can produce (1-epsiv)-optimal solutions for any small epsiv . This result is significant as it not only provides theoretical understanding of this problem, but also offers a performance benchmark for any future proposed distributed algorithm and protocol for this problem. Simulation results are also provided to demonstrate the efficacy of the solution procedure.