Transmission of streaming data over an EGPRS wireless network

Abstract

We investigate the feasibility of transmitting MPEG-2 AAC (Advanced Audio Coder) music over packet-switched bearers of an Enhanced General Packet Radio Services cellular network. Streaming data applications like AAC music differ from conversational voice in that they permit a larger transmission delay and delay jitter than the former. In addition, AAC music can tolerate a higher frame error rate than voice by using error concealment techniques at the receiver. This creates the opportunity to transmit AAC music over data-optimized, high-throughput and nominally high-error rate, wireless networks, by using appropriate performance enhancing techniques. In particular, we investigate the performance with the following techniques: (i) link-layer retransmissions; (ii) dynamic packet assignment; and (iii) packet interleaving or shuffling. We find that all the above techniques are desirable in order to simultaneously achieve a high spectral efficiency and the required quality. While this paper is focused on one application, the conclusions and insights are applicable to most streaming audio and video applications.