Streaming Video in Wireless Networks : Service and Technique

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to present an attractive service for the third generation mobile network that includes streaming video. A prototype application for this service is to be built. The technique behind streaming video is to be presented so that it comes clear what kind of problems and solutions that are associated with streaming. Finally, a platform for streaming video is to be tested and evaluated through different channels. The attractive service presented in this thesis is MMS - Multimedia Messaging Service. Today's popular SMS is evolving beyond text to multimedia. Multimedia will be part of the next generation messaging service called MMS, which will, in an advanced shape, include streaming video. MMS is expected to be a successful service for the next generation?s cell phones. The WAP Forum and the 3GPP industry groups are responsible for standardizing MMS. The standard defines an MMS architecture, which has a number of key elements that interact with each other. The prototype application that was built is called mVideo Messaging and is an MMS that is built on the basis of the MMS standard. The kernel of the prototype is a platform from PacketVideo that makes it possible to stream video over wireless networks. Theories and tests makes it clear that the parameters affecting the video quality can be found at the source/target while coding and compressing, as well as at the streaming-channel. At the channel there are above all three network problems - packet loss, end-to-end delay and delay jitter. To deal with these matters, new protocols have been developed. At the source/target it is important use an efficient compression scheme. MPEG-4 is a new compression scheme that suits very well for streaming video through wireless channels. MPEG- 4 make use of scalability, is object oriented, and is optimized for streaming between 9,6 kbps and 4 Mbps. The service proposed in this thesis as a future service for 3G is practicable. It is also shown that the service can be built using the technology of today.