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Delivering uncompressed HDTV content wirelessly has become the Holy Grail of wireless video connectivity. Consumers are interested in a wireless connection option for their TVs and projectors in order to make installation easier and more flexible, and to enable simple whole-home connectivity between video sources and displays.
Enabling applications such as wireless HDTVs and wireless HD projectors requires delivery of uncompressed HDTV video with video rates as high as 3 Gbps (uncompressed 1080p). However, existing and emerging wireless standards, such as 802.11n and UWB, are not capable of delivering such high video rates.
This paper introduces a new video-modem approach for wireless video which bridges this gap. It will describe this new approach which uses joint-source channel coding to optimize the wireless modem for video delivery.
The paper will explain how this video optimization enables more than a 10X improvement when compared to the traditional data-modem method for wireless video, thereby enabling wireless delivery of very high uncompressed video rates with high reliability and with a range that could cover the whole home.
High-definition content
The transformation to high definition content has created consumer demand for high-quality digital video connectivity between high-definition (HD) displays such as high-definition televisions (HDTVs) and HD projectors to other consumer electronic (CE) devices that produce HD sources, such as HD-DVDs, Blu-ray, HD set-top boxes, game consoles and so on.
For wire connectivity, high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) has emerged in recent years as the enabling digital interface for HD and consumer electronics that can transfer uncompressed HD video and audio at a rate of over 3 Gbps required for 1080p video. As a result, HDMI is on the verge of becoming a ubiquitous audio visual interface.
Can a similar solution be devised for wireless connectivity?
The success of WiFi and other wireless standards show that consumers love wireless. To fit the slick design of the wall-hanging flat panel displays, consumers wish to get rid of the cumbersome wires and have a flexible, easy-to-use and -install wireless connectivity.
However, existing and emerging wireless standards such as 802.11n and UWB are not capable of delivering the high video rates required for high-quality video connectivity. Something else is needed in order to achieve the wireless counterpart of HDMI.
Wireless high-quality video transfer is a tough problem. One aspect is the high video rate requiring a communication channel with enough bandwidth and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), i.e., enough capacity.
But more so, the wireless channel is unstable and unpredictable. Its characteristics change rapidly; due to fading and interference, its SNR and capacity vary considerably. In data transfer, buffers and re-transmissions can compensate for these problems. This is impossible in video (and audio) connectivity, where the transfer must be done in real time with no delay and the high fidelity must remain intact throughout the transfer.
This paper outlines the novel video-modem approach for wireless video transfer, based on the information theoretic principle of Joint Source Channel Coding (JSCC). The video-modem approach overcomes the challenges of the wireless channels for video delivery.
AMIMON uses this approach in its Wireless High-Definition Interface (WHDI) solution which enables true robust uncompressed wireless A/V connectivity with a range that could cover the whole home. The WHDI solution uses a multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) 20MHz/40MHz bandwidth channel over the 5GHz band, where MIMO provides an extra bandwidth and diversity boost to the solution.
The video-modem JSCC approach can be used over other radios and frequency band as well, enabling a robust 10 times improvement compared to the traditional data-modem method for wireless video, thereby enabling wireless delivery of very high uncompressed video rates.
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