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A low-rate encoder for image transmission using LoRa communication modules

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Abstract

The present work proposes an encoder for image transmission via LoRa communication modules. These enable long-range, low-power transmission schemes and are ideal for monitoring in places with no mobile network connectivity. Nonetheless, this technology has a low transmission bitrate, which limits its use to high bandwidth applications. The state-of-the-art has numerous image encoders, but few achieve an adequate balance between image quality, compression, sequential decoding, and computational complexity. The proposed encoder uses the YCoCg color model and chromatic subsampling followed by wavelet subband decomposition, which extracts relevant subbands in the image to then reconstruct it sequentially. Each subband is quantized independently and then enters an adaptive entropic encoder. This encoder is compared to the JPEG2000 encoder using the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity index (SSIM) quality metrics. Results show that the proposal obtains a reconstructed image quality close to that of JPEG2000 with a higher compression rate. Moreover, it improves the transmission time of images through a LoRa link by 99.09%.

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Funding

The authors would like to thank the Dirección de Investigacion of Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas for funding and logistical support with code UPC-D012-2021.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering, School of Electronic Engineering, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas, Av. Prolongación Primavera 2390, Monterrico, Santiago de Surco, 15023, Lima, Peru

    Kevin Guerra, Jhon Casavilca, Alonso Sanchez & Guillermo Kemper

  2. National Institute of Research and Training at Telecommunications (INICTEL-UNI), Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Av. Túpac Amaru 210, Rímac, 15333, Lima, Peru

    Samuel Huamán & Lidia López

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  1. Kevin Guerra
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  2. Jhon Casavilca
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  5. Alonso Sanchez
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  6. Guillermo Kemper
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Correspondence to Guillermo Kemper.

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Guerra, K., Casavilca, J., Huamán, S. et al. A low-rate encoder for image transmission using LoRa communication modules. Int. j. inf. tecnol. 15, 1069–1079 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41870-022-01077-7

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