Energy-aware system design for wireless multimedia

In this paper, we present various challenges that arise in the delivery and exchange of multimedia information to mobile devices. Specifically, we focus on techniques for maintaining QoS to end-user multimedia applications (e.g. video streaming, multimedia conferencing) while maximizing device lifetimes. In order to cope with the resource intensive nature of multimedia applications (in terms of computation, bandwidth and consequently power) and dynamic congestion levels in wireless networks, an end-to-end approach to QoS-aware power optimization is required. We discuss the trend towards such an integrated approach that couples the architectural, OS, middleware and application layers to achieve both user experience and device energy gains. We conclude with a discussion of tools for integrated system design and testing, that will aid in rapid deployment of wireless multimedia.