This comprehensive new book provides you with a solid understanding of the applications and supporting technologies associated with digital video communications, and shows you how to provide reliable, flexible, and robust video transmission over various networks. The book begins with an in-depth discussion of the new and emerging applications of digital video communications including tele-medicine, videoconferencing, and distance learning, and introduces the key systems required to support digital video: the Internet, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks, and Broadband ISDN. It also explores near-future developments to the Internet that will allow it to support real-time video traffic. In addition, the book presents new and soon-to-be-realized digital video compression and decoding techniques including the MPEG1, MPEG2, and MPEG4 International Standards, the JPEG still image compression standard, and the teleconferencing ITU H.320 standards. Other chapters enable you to...Meet the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements for providing digital video communications; Improve QoS using Forward Error Correction and layered video coding methods; Work your way around transmission errors to improve digital video quality; Understand and apply rate control to coded video transmission. This clearly written book is an invaluable introduction to the subject and a practical reference for communications engineers, system designers, technical staff, and consultants involved in the video, television, computing, and communications industries. It is also an excellent teaching tool for electronic engineering and computer science instructors.
1.Introduction: Digital Video Communications. The Market. Key Issues. Structure of This Book. 2. Applications for Digital Video Communications: Entertainment Broadcasting. Video on Demand. Conferencing. 3. Video Compression Techniques and Standards: Digital Video. Coding of Still Images. Coding of Moving Images. JPEG: Still Image Coding. H.261: Motion Video Coding for Videoconferencing. H.263: Low Bit Rate Video Coding. MPEG: Motion Video Coding for Entertainment and Broadcast. Digital Audio Visual Council (DAVIC). Future Developments and Research Areas. 4. The Internet: The Internet Architecture. Internet Protocols. Congestion in the Internet. The Internet and Real-Time Traffic. 5. B-ISDN and Asynchronous Transfer Mode Networks: Principles of the Asynchronous Transfer Mode. ATM Protocol Architecture. ATM Switching Technology. Congestion Control. ATM Signaling. UPC Functions. LAN Emulation. Video Over ATM. Example ATM Networks. 6. Quality of Service for Video Communications: Video Quality Requirements. Quality of Service Requirements for a Video Transport System. Quality of Service for Coded Video. Multiplexing and Demultiplexing Traffic Streams. 7. The Effect of Bit Errors and Packet Loss on Compressed Video: Sources of Errors. Effect of Errors on Coded Video. Coding Techniques to Reduce the Effect of Errors. Case Study: Varying Slice Size to Improve Error Tolerance of MPEG Video. 8. Forward Error Correction: Some Definitions. Finite (or Galois) Fields. Linear Block Coding. Convolutional Coding. Intrerleaving. Applications of FEC. 9. Layered Video Coding: Layered Coding in International Standards. Research Issues. 10. Rate Control: Rate Control Requirements. Effect of Encoding Parameters on Coded Bit Rate. Rate Control Techniques. 11. Conclusions: Applications and Requirements. Meeting Video Quality of Service Requirements. Future Developments.
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Iain E. G. Richardson
Iain E.G. Richardson is a lecturer in communications at The Robert Gordon University. He holds an M.Eng. degree in electronic and electrical engineering from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. He has published more than 25 conference and journal papers.
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Martyn J. Riley
Martyn J. Riley is a lecturer in communications at The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland. He holds an M.S. in information engineering from The University of Bristol. Mr. Riley has published more than 25 conference and journal papers and holds 2 patents.