"Future wireless networks will require anytime, anywhere access to high data rate content, such as multimedia, by a growing number of users with an increasing demand for higher quality. Based on heuristics from point-to-point systems, traditional network architectures consist of multiple layers with minimal interaction, each layer taking care of a distinct task such as modulation, routing or error control. While reducing complexity and providing modularity, this layered architecture falls short of exploiting all the available resources and hence, satisfying the growing demand on the user side. This project adopts a cross-layer approach between the application layer requirements and the physical layer constraints and aims at identifying optimal source and channel coding schemes that bring together advanced compression techniques such as multiple descriptions, successive refinement and distributed compression, with promising physical layer techniques for interference management and channel adaptation such as cooperation, superposition and feedback.Aside from theoretical optimality, this project is concerned with developing practically oriented transmission algorithms that can trade-off optimality with modularity and complexity through loose coupling between the source and channel encoders. The goal for the final stage of the project is to complement the theoretical results with analytical and experimental studies for cooperative video transmission over wireless networks. This project will benefit extensively from the tools of information theory, signal processing and optimization theory as well as the hardware infrastructure of the host institution for the implementation part."