Scalable Video Coding (SVC) techniques are defined for flexible video streaming over heterogeneous networks. However, the flexibility provided by SVC comes often at the price of decreased video compression efficiency. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the advantages and drawbacks of SVC techniques. Criteria for the evaluation include playback latency, bandwidth saving, and rate-distortion performance. Further, it is also expected to investigate the possibilities of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of SVC for real-time video streaming applications. The evaluation results will be useful for designing advanced QoS aware video streaming systems.

Prerequisites: English, excellent programming skills, C or C++, fundamentals of multimedia