Unequal Error Protection for H.264 Video using RCPC Codes and Hierarchical QAM

Compressed video data is very sensitive to channel-induced errors and network losses. Most conventional unequal error protection techniques involve forward error correction codes of different rates or asymmetric signal constellations for data of different priorities. It is yet unknown if combining the above two techniques can further improve performance. In this paper, we investigate rate-compatible punctured convolutional (RCPC) codes concatenated with hierarchical QAM for H.264 encoded video sequences. We investigate system constraints and propose an optimization formulation to compute the optimal parameters of the proposed system under the given source significance information. An upper bound to the bit error rate of the proposed system is derived as a function of system parameters, including the code rate and geometry of the constellation. The example shown demonstrates system design for H.264 video, where PSNR improvement is observed.