We present a new cross-layer ARQ algorithm for video streaming over 802.11 wireless networks. The algorithm combines application-level information about the perceptual and temporal importance of each packet into a single priority value, which drives packet selection at each retransmission opportunity. Hence, only the most most perceptually important packets are retransmitted, delivering higher perceptual quality and less bandwidth usage compared to the standard 802.11 MAC-layer ARQ scheme. H.264 video streaming based on the proposed technique has been simulated using ns in a realistic home network scenario, using the standard ARQ technique for all interfering traffic. Results show that the proposed method consistently outperforms the standard MAC-layer 802.11 retransmission scheme, delivering more than 1.5 dB PSNR gains using approximately half of the retransmission bandwidth.

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