A robust joint source channel coding scheme for image transmission over the ionospheric channel

In this paper, we propose a joint source channel coding (JSCC) scheme to the transmission of fixed images for wireless communication applications. The ionospheric channel which presents some characteristics identical to those found on mobile radio channels, like fading, multipath and Doppler effect is our test channel. As this method based on a wavelet transform, a self-organising map (SOM) vector quantization (VQ) optimally mapped on a QAM digital modulation and an unequal error protection (UEP) strategy, this method is particularly well adapted to low bit-rate applications. The compression process consists in applying a SOM VQ on the discrete wavelet transform coefficients and computing several codebooks depending on the sub-images preserved. An UEP is achieved with a correcting code applied on the most significant data. The JSCC consists of an optimal mapping of the VQ codebook. vectors on a high spectral efficiency digital modulation. This feature allows preserving the topological organization of the codebook along the transmission chain while keeping a reduced complexity system. This method applied on grey level images can be used for colour images as well. Several tests of transmission for different images have shown the robustness of this method even for high bit error rate (BER > 10(-2)). In order to qualify the quality of the image after transmission, we use a PSNR% (peak signal-to-noise ratio) parameter which is the value of the difference of the PSNR after compression at the transmitter and after reception at the receiver. This parameter clearly shows that 95% of the PSNR is preserved when the BER is less than 10(-2). (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.