Test Zone Search Optimization Using Cuckoo Search Algorithm for VVC

Abstract

Motion vector approximation is an integral part of every video coding standard to reduce temporal correlation. Estimating motion necessitates a lot of computation. Several attempts were made to reduce the computation cost in exhaustive search of motion estimation. Test zone search was accepted as benchmark algorithm for fast motion estimation by the most recent video coding standard, versatile video coding. Quality and speed of test zone search completely depends on two parameters (i.e., sub sampling frequency of search space during raster scan and dimension of the search space). Cuckoo search, one of the popular nature-inspired optimization algorithms, is used to optimize the operational parameters of test zone search. The proposed optimization enhanced the speed up to 50% while maintaining or improving the Bjontegaard rate (BD-Rate) and Bjontegaard PSNR (BDSNR).