Content-Based Image Unequal Error Protection Strategies for an Open Loop MIMO System

The paper deals with strategies for optimizing the transmission of JPEG2000 coded images over a MIMO quasi-static Rayleigh fading channel, by exploiting different available MIMO STBC (Space Time Block Codes), as well as the im-age content to be transmitted. The aim is to propose a link adaptation scheme based on the variable radio channel's conditions, by establishing an UEP (Unequal Error Protection) scheme that leads to the best tradeoff between the ro-bustness to errors and the image visual quality. Comparisons are made with the EEP (Equal Error Protection) case, in terms of the PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio) fidelity metric, as well as the subjective image quality.