MNCATM: A Multi-Layer Non-Uniform Coding-Based Adaptive Transmission Method for 360° Video

With the rapid development of multimedia services and smart devices, 360-degree video has enhanced the user viewing experience, ushering in a new era of immersive human–computer interaction. These technologies are increasingly integrating everyday life, including gaming, education, and healthcare. However, the uneven spatiotemporal distribution of wireless resources presents significant challenges for the transmission of ultra-high-definition 360-degree video streaming. To address this issue, this paper proposes a multi-layer non-uniform coding-based adaptive transmission method for 360° video (MNCATM). This method optimizes video caching and transmission by dividing non-uniform tiles and leveraging users’ dynamic field of view (FoV) information and the multi-bitrate characteristics of video content. First, the video transmission process is formalized and modeled, and an adaptive transmission optimization framework for a non-uniform video is proposed. Based on this, the optimization problem required by the paper is summarized, and an algorithm is proposed to solve the problem. Simulation experiments demonstrate that the proposed method, MNCATM, outperforms existing transmission schemes in terms of bandwidth utilization and user quality of experience (QoE). MNCATM can effectively utilize network bandwidth, reduce latency, improve transmission efficiency, and maximize user experience quality.