Digital Video Digital Video Edited by Floriano De Rango Intech IV                               Published by Intech      Intech  Olajnica 19/2, 32000 Vukovar, Croatia    Abstracting and non‐profit use of the material is permitted with credit to the source. Statements and  opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of  the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the  published articles. Publisher assumes no responsibility liability for any damage or injury to persons or  property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained inside. After  this work has been published by the Intech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in  any publication of which they are an author or editor, and the make other personal use of the work.     © 2010 Intech  Free online edition of this book you can find under www.sciyo.com  Additional copies can be obtained from:   [email protected]    First published February 2010  Printed in India          Technical Editor: Teodora Smiljanic        Cover designed by Dino Smrekar          Digital Video, Edited by Floriano De Rango                  p.  cm.        ISBN 978‐953‐7619‐70‐1 Preface Digital video broadcasting (DVB) interest aroused in recent years and the birth of DVB projects some years ago led to the development of many new technologies and architecture able to deliver video and multimedia traffic over heterogeneous platforms. In the first phase, the DVB projects focused on the development of technical specifications relevant for the more traditional broadcasting of audio and video services by satellite, in cable networks and via terrestrial transmitters. Later and more recently attention has focused on the IP paradigm over DVB networks, solutions for interaction and return channels, the software environment called Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) and the distribution of video and audio over handheld devices and smartphones. This book tries to address different aspects and issues related to video and multimedia distribution over the heterogeneous environment considering broadband satellite networks and general wireless systems where wireless communications and conditions can pose serious problems to the efficient and reliable delivery of contents. In this context, specific chapters of the book have been related to different research topics covering the architectural aspects of the most famous DVB standard (DVB-T, DVB-S/S2, DVB-H etc.), the protocol aspects and the transmission techniques making use of MIMO, hierarchical modulation and lossy compression. In addition to these topics, also research issues related to the application layer and to the content semantic, organization and research on the web have also been addressed in order to give a complete view of the problems. The network technology faced in this book are mainly broadband wireless and satellite networks and the book can be read by intermediate students, researchers, engineers or people with some knowledge or specialization in network topics. All chapters have been written individually by different authors and this allows for each chapter to be read independently from the other chapters of the book. We decided to adopt this approach to permit researchers, students or engineers to select the arguments of major interest and that fall in the expertise area of any reader that is interested in the video distribution topic with the possibility to understand the approaches proposed by the authors without being forced to read the entire book. Obviously, in order to go deeply into the video distribution and multimedia transmission topic over broadband networks such as Satellite, overall reading of the book is suggested. In the following, brief snapshots of the single chapters are presented in order to give the reader the opportunity to select the chapters that better fall in the area of interest. Chapter 1: Multimedia Traffic over Wireless and Satellite Networks The rapid growth of multimedia applications and the development of advanced digital mobile terminals able to connect to multiple network segments lead to the proposal and VI design of novel network architectures and protocols where video distribution, IPTV, audio transmission and multimedia traffic in general can be supported. Multiple technologies such as satellite DVB, 3G networks, wireless systems and so on can converge in an overall framework and architectures where fixed and mobile users can transparently communicate maintaining a good quality of service (QoS). Chapter 2: Adaptive Video Transmission over Wireless MIMO System Multimedia transmission and, in particular, video transmission that needs variable bit rate support can be obtained through advanced transmission techniques and technologies such as MIMO systems and source channel coding that permits an increase of channel capacity and diversity. In this context, adaptive video transmission and scalable video coding become an important issue to be addressed in order to allow video transmission over wireless networks. Chapter 3: Transmission Optimization of Digital Compressed Video in Wireless Systems The transmission of multimedia streams over wireless networks determines new issues to be addressed considering the variable nature of wireless channels and the possibility of user movements. New compression techniques able to reduce the network requirements or data rate to be supported consents the maintaining of acceptable QoS requirements also over wireless channels. Thus, compressed multimedia transmission together with dynamic optimized bandwidth assignment strategies and rate based and channel condition based scheduling algorithms can become essential to support and respect QoS constraints of multimedia traffic. Chapter 4: Resilient Digital Video Transmission over Wireless Channels using Pixel- Level Artefact Detection Mechanisms In order to support a resilient digital video transmission over noisy wireless channels advanced video coding techniques and machine learning algorithms to offer robust signal detection are suitable. Also Support Vector Machines (SVM) techniques can increase the capability of the decoder in detecting visual distorted region,s increasing the QoS in the video transmission and its robustness. Chapter 5: Digital Video Broadcasting via Satellite – Challenge on IPTV Distribution Recent satellite technologies and in particular Digital Video Broadcasting via Satellite (DVB-S) penetrated the market in recent years and it has allowed the delivery of high quality digital video. With this technology it can be interesting to see how the new IPTV distribution paradigm can be mapped over Satellite architecture in order to obtain a fully integrated IP network where video distribution can be delivered to the end users. Chapter 6: The Deployment of Intelligent Transport Services by using DVB-based Mobile Video Technologies Mobile video technologies are becoming so popular and useful that a possible use for new Intelligent Transport Services (ITS) is creating interest. The capability to warn drivers in time to avoid collision or the detection of the exact accident location can offer useful information for road traffic management and to reduce further incident risks. Novel standards such as Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC), GPRS, WiMAX and UMTS networks and broadcast technologies such as RDS, DAB and DVB specifications (DVB-T, DVB-S, DVB-H etc) can be integrated in order to offer a ubiquitous ITS service. In this context, DVBH and DVB-SH are examined to focus on the support of novel services on handheld devices and on the possibility of integrating these broadcast technologies with heterogeneous systems to realize a general ITS framework. VII Chapter 7: A New Waveform based on Linear Prediction Multicarrier Modulation for Future Digital Video Broadcasting Systems The OFDM technique represents an efficient scheme of transmission for propagation over multiple channels and, for this reason, it has been adopted in different standards relative to Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB). The success of this technique is in the capacity of subdividing the single channel into parallel free sub-channels and then to rebuild the signal using the reverse Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) at the transmitter and FFT at the receiver. In order to reduce the overhead associated with the standard OFDM technique a linear pre-coding based on OFDM modulation is considered in this chapter. Chapter 8: Performance Analysis of DVB-T/H OFDM, Hierarchical Modulation in Impulse Noise Environment This chapter regards DVB-T/H, introducing basic DVB characteristics and modulation techniques. The hierarchical modulation and the COFDM proposed in different digital standard proposals are considered to learn about the capability to modulate in a single bit- stream separate and multiple bit-streams. Moreover, the overall system performance in the presence of impulse noise, and not only Gaussian noise, is also evaluated. Chapter 9: IP Datacast (IPDC) over DVB-H and the Repair Costs of the IPDC File Repair Mechanism This chapter briefly introduces the DVB technology and the transmission systems adopted by mobile terminals (DVB-Handhead). Then, the IP datacast architecture (IPDC) and the protocols used in the DVB-H are also applied focusing mainly on data transmission and error signaling mechanisms in the reception phase. Chapter 10: DVB-T2: New Signal Processing Algorithm for a Challenging Digital Video Broadcasting Standard The novel standard DVB-T2 is introduced focusing also on the difference between DVB- T and DVB-T2 and the new possibility to increase the transmission data rate.. De-mapping, iterative decoding, and antenna diversity etc. are the main characteristics of DVB-T2 able to increase its performance in comparison with DVB-T. Chapter 11: Passive Radar using COFDM (DB or DVB-T) Broadcaster as Opportunistic Illuminator In this chapter the advantages and benefits of COFDM in broadcast transmission are introduced. At the beginning the main concepts of COFDM are provided and later two stop filters used for the COFDM signal transmission are explained. Many of the results of this chapter have been experimentally obtained. Chapter 12: Reliable and Repeatable Power Measurement in DVB-T System In this chapter, after briefly introducing the DVB technique, measurement approaches and methodologies to apply on this broadcast technology are explained such as bandwidth and power measurements. The specific instrumentations and techniques such as specified by the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) are described. Chapter 13: MidField: An Adaptive Middleware System for Multipoint Digital Video Communication In order to support digital video transmission through multiple intermediate nodes, it is necessary to design and implement a novel middleware level called MidField. In particular, in this chapter the routing of multiple streams among intermediate nodes for the delivery of Digital Video (DV) and High Definition Video (HDV) are introduced and described. Architectures, protocols and the working of MidField, communication modalities and streaming modules are also described. VIII Chapter 14: Video Content Description using Fuzzy Spatio-Temporal Relation Sometimes, it can be interesting to find video content on the basis of some description of the video track. With this regard, to obtain the task of an efficient research of video contents novel techniques based on Fuzzy logic and the spatio-temporal relation is explained and proposed. Chapter 15: Trick play on Audiovisual Information for Tape Disk and Solid – State based Digital Recording System This chapter is dedicated to the storage techniques to memorize video content in an efficient manner in order to speed up the video content research. A solution called Digital Consumer Storage Standard is described and in addition storage and compression techniques for different physical supports are also provided. Chapter 16: Video Quality Metrics Compression and transmission techniques are two basic aspects in video transmission. However, in order to know how much a video content can be compressed offering good quality perception to the end user, it is very important to define good video quality metrics. It is possible to define subjective and objective video metrics that are able to correlate the network characteristics with human perception. In this chapter a brief description of the Human Visual System and the most important video quality metrics will be provided. Chapter 17: Video Analysis and Indexing In recent years, the increasing number of applications and traffic based on video content are leading to a particular interest in the design of (semi) automatic ways to describe, organize, and manage video data with greater understanding of its semantic contents. With this regard, the design of efficient databases, storing techniques, indexing, semantic extraction by video content and time-efficient query can become essential in video management and they will be object of this chapter. Chapter 18: Video Editing based on Situation awareness from Voice Information and Face Emotion Since video camera systems are becoming ever more popular in the home environment and many other places, it is important to record different types of events during thecourse of daily life. In this context, in order to automatize the recording process and to capture significant events, it is possible to design recording strategies that make use of voice detection and face recognition to capture and zoom situations of particular interest. In this chapter, the authors, after describing a video editing system based on audio and face emotion, describe the specific techniques adopted in their system concerning voice and voice direction detection and facial emotion recognition algorithms. Chapter 19: Combined Source and Channel Strategies for Optimized Video Communications In the context of Universal Media Access (UMA), one of the main challenges is to flexibly deliver video content with the best perceived image quality for end-users having different available resources, access technologies and terminal capabilities. This chapter will introduce different coding and compression techniques managed on the basis of the channel condition in order to improve efficiency in video and multimedia distribution. The first part of the chapter will describe the MPEG-2 and H.264/AVC standard with subjective and objective quality metrics. In the second part of the chapter, instead, channel coding and error control techniques in video distribution, scalable video transmission and hierarchical modulation are discussed. IX Chapter 20: Amplitude Phase Shift Keying Constellation Design and Its Applications to Satellite Digital Video Broadcasting This chapter focuses on the Amplitude Phase Shift Keying (APSK) and M-APSK applied to Digital Video Broadcasting and in particular to DVB-S2 and DVB-SH. This modulation technique and its extension to multidimensional modulation (M-APSK) present higher spectral efficiency and a higher data rate providing good support for multimedia and video distribution. Chapter 21: Non-Photo Realistic Rendering for Digital Video Intaglio In recent years, rendering algorithms have been introduced to mimic various classic art forms, ranging from pen-and-ink illustrations and line art drawings to expressive paintings. In this context, non photo realistic (NPR) rendering techniques can become an important instrument to consider and this chapter will give an idea of NPR techniques proposed in literature, focusing later on an innovative approach proposed by the authors. Chapter 22: Building Principles and Application of Multifunctional Video Information System In this chapter structural principles of perspective television system, video informational system (VIS) for multipurpose application or multifunctional video informational system (MFVIS) are described. Editor Floriano De Rango Associate Prof. at DEIS Dept., University of Calabria, Italy