Development of Multi-platform Error-Resilient Video Streaming Application for Wi-Fi Networks

Abstract

Ever since multimedia communications emerged, video has been an important media in the world of entertainment. Video streaming over wireless networks is growing rapidly all over the globe. This is due to the increased demand and high technological advancement in wireless field, enabling people connect their laptops and PDA’s to WLAN while they are at work, shops, malls, airports etc. Due to the high demand of Wi-Fi technology, it’s therefore found in laptops and other internet access devices like routers, DSL’s and modems etc. This technology is now also common in internet telephony, gamming, multimedia streaming, real time applications such as video conferencing and call. For efficient transport of these services a mechanism for video compression is required which make use of a hybrid method of temporal and spatial-prediction, transform coding and variable length coding. The blend of these methods provides elevated compression gain, but at the same time makes the encoded stream more prone to errors. Wireless video streaming poses many challenges. Video over wireless networks is a very challenging task and is made difficult due to the presence of number of factors including unknown and time-varying bandwidth, delay, and losses. Our video streaming application examines the challenges that make simultaneous delivery, playback or streaming of video difficult. In this project we have also explored various techniques that enable streaming of live video from webcams over wireless networks on multi-platforms devices like pocket pc’s, laptops and desktop pc’s etc. So we have developed an application that will enhance error resilience while retaining good temporal prediction efficiency for video transport over error-prone networks, especially for wireless channels. Our application is developed, deployed and tested on desktop/laptop computers as well as on pocket pc’s.