High-Resolution, Low-Delay, and Error-Resilient Medical Ultrasound Video Communication Using H.264/AVC Over Mobile WiMAX Networks

• Published in: IEEE journal of biomedical and health informatics Vol. 17; no. 3; pp. 619 - 628
• Main Authors: Panayides, A., Antoniou, Z. C., Mylonas, Y., Pattichis, M. S., Pitsillides, A., Pattichis, C. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.05.2013; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Computer Communication Networks; Diagnostic region of interest (ROI); e-health; Encoding; error resilience; flexible macroblock ordering (FMO); H.264/AVC; HSPA; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods; m-health; Medical diagnostic imaging; Mobile communication; Mobile computing; mobile WiMAX; Plaque, Atherosclerotic - diagnostic imaging; Streaming media; telemedicine; Telemedicine - methods; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasonography - methods; ultrasound video; video quality assessment (VQA); Video Recording - methods; WiMAX
• ISSN: 2168-2194; 2168-2208
• DOI: 10.1109/TITB.2012.2232675

In this study, we describe an effective video communication framework for the wireless transmission of H.264/AVC medical ultrasound video over mobile WiMAX networks. Medical ultrasound video is encoded using diagnostically driven, error resilient encoding, where quantization levels are varied as a function of the diagnostic significance of each image region. We demonstrate how our proposed system allows for the transmission of high-resolution clinical video that is encoded at the clinical acquisition resolution and can then be decoded with low delay. To validate performance, we perform OPNET simulations of mobile WiMAX medium access control and physical layers characteristics that include service prioritization classes, different modulation and coding schemes, fading channel's conditions, and mobility. We encode the medical ultrasound videos at the 4CIF (704×576) resolution that can accommodate clinical acquisition that is typically performed at lower resolutions. Video quality assessment is based on both clinical (subjective) and objective evaluations.