Unequal error protection based LV segmented CMR image transmission through wireless communication channels

Abstract

Increasing life expectation have made the heart failures of important concern. For clinical diagnosis, parameters for the condition of heart are needed. Estimation of these parameters is possible from accurate segmented cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) images. For real time applications, reliable transmission of these segmented medical images through wireless communication channels faces a great challenge. Wireless channels impairments such as fading and interference increase the probability errors, when the image is transmitted. This necessitates the use of channel coding to protect against the channel errors. The problem of increase in transmitted bit rate with the application of general channel coding is solved by the unequal error protection technique. As we concentrate on the left ventricle (LV), more importance is given to this as compared to rest part of the CMR image. In this paper, we suggest a technique that emphasizes protection according to the importance. The image is partitioned into equal blocks and the data classification is performed in the DWT domain. The DWT coefficients are categorized into two classes of importance and they are given different rates of error protection and compression ratios. The simulation results show the less bit error rate for the left ventricular image indicating high quality desired reconstructed image at the receiver end.