Video sensor node energy preservation through dynamic adaptive video encoding parameters' values selection

Abstract Wireless video sensor networks (WVSN) are energy constrained systems where deployed video nodes are capable of capturing the visual scene, performing local processing such as video compression, then routing the results toward the destination. In this paper, we consider the problem of minimizing the energy consumed by the video sensor node to encode and transmit the video stream under a defined video quality constraint. In the present work, Intra-Only H.264/AVC is considered as video compression scheme. Particularly, we propose to control at run-time both the energies consumed for video encoding and transmitting, in addition to the video encoding distortion. Thus, we begin our study by profiling the evolution of these quantities according to two coding parameters, namely the frame rate (FR) and the quantization parameter (QP). Following an analysis of the obtained measurements, we propose empirical parametric models in line with the observed behaviors, then validate them with different video sequences. Finally, we introduce the Dynamic Adaptive Encoding Parameters’ values Selection (DAEPS) procedure which relies on these models to solve the problem under consideration. Simulations show the advantage of considering such an approach, which is capable, on the one hand, of extending the lifetime of the video sensor node up to 2.3 times, when compared with state-of-the-art approaches, and on the other hand, of complying with the defined end-to-end video quality constraint.