Distributed Successive Approximation Coding using Broadcast Advantage: The Two-Encoder Case

Abstract-- Traditional distributed source coding rarely considers the possible link between separate encoders. However, the broadcast nature of wireless communication in sensor networks provides a free gossip mechanism which can be used to simplify encoding/decoding and reduce transmission power. Using this broadcast advantage, we present a new two-encoder scheme which imitates the ping-pong game and has a successive approximation structure. For the quadratic Gaussian case, we prove that this scheme is successively refinable on the {sumrate, distortion pair} surface, which is characterized by the ratedistortion region of the distributed two-encoder source coding. A potential energy saving over conventional distributed coding is also illustrated. This ping-pong distributed coding idea can be extended to the multiple encoder case and provides the theoretical foundation for a new class of distributed image coding method in wireless scenarios.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: CORR
• Authors: Zichong Chen, Guillermo Barrenetxea, Martin Vetterli
• Keywords: CORR 2010, Education, Free Gossip Mechanism, Quadratic Gaussian Case, Traditional Distributed Source