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Lightweight real-time error-resilient encoding of visual sensor data

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Abstract

Extremely low-resolution video still proves suitable for many video interpretation methods and therefore may be used in small, low-cost and low-power visual sensors. Although some image analysis algorithms can be performed at the sensor node, collecting multiple video streams at the server side is necessary to execute many advanced video-based applications. Thus, an error-resilient video codec is a key component of every wireless visual sensor network. This paper introduces a novel end-to-end video compression and transmission system for such sensor networks. In the proposed framework, high-performance video coding techniques are employed, while maintaining the complexity of the encoder at the minimum. The produced bitstream is protected against wireless network errors by forward error correction codes and a row–column bit interleaver. Experimental results show that proposed codec performs close to H.264/AVC, at only a small fraction of its encoding time and offers robustness against transmission errors in various network conditions.

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Notes

  1. The High Profile of the H.264/AVC standard is selected since it supports monochrome coding.

  2. In this evaluation we used a linear congruential generator, as implemented in rand48 library.

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Acknowledgments

This work is a part of the iMinds ICON project “Little Sister: low cost monitoring for care and retail” with additional support from the Flemish Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT) Ph.D. Grant No. 111014 of Jan Hanca and Flemish Research Foundation (FWO) project G017712N. We would like to thank Richard Kleihorst and Marco Camilli for providing support on the sensor’s [16] firmware.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics and Informatics, Free University of Brussels VUB/iMinds, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussel, Belgium

    Jan Hanca, Geert Braeckman & Adrian Munteanu

  2. Image Processing and Interpretation, Ghent University/iMinds, St.-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Wilfried Philips

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  1. Jan Hanca
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  2. Geert Braeckman
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  3. Adrian Munteanu
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  4. Wilfried Philips
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Correspondence to Jan Hanca.

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Hanca, J., Braeckman, G., Munteanu, A. et al. Lightweight real-time error-resilient encoding of visual sensor data. J Real-Time Image Proc 12, 775–789 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11554-014-0448-4

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