Coding-aware protocol design for wireless networks

In general communication networks, the basic function of the nodes is to send, receive or forward data packets. Network coding is a new paradigm, in which data packets can be processed by the nodes. Instead of simply sending or forwarding one data packet, the node can code several data packets into one or several data packets. The destination node obtains the native packets by decoding multiple coded packets. This new technology originated from wired networks and was enriched by information theory. Studies show that network coding can be utilized to increase throughput, reduce delay, and improve robustness.The idea has also recently been applied to wireless networks to enable high throughput wireless networks. The unique characteristics of wireless medium render network coding particularly useful. The basic underlying idea is that one can utilize the broadcast nature of wireless medium by allowing the intermediate nodes within a network to intelligently code and decode the information carried by different flows. There are numerous related works demonstrating that network coding enables more efficient, scalable, and reliable wireless networks. These opportunities come with a need to rethink the existing protocols in traditional wireless networks.This dissertation focuses on four aspects that explore the interplay of network coding with other existing wireless protocols. Four coding-aware protocols for wireless networks are designed and analyzed: Coding-aware Routing, Coding-aware Rate Selection, Coding-aware MAC, and Coding-aware Geographic Forwarding. Coding-aware Routing explores the possibility of changing the routes for traffic flows to create more coding opportunities. Coding-aware Rate Selection is applied to the whole network during routing process and also the broadcast transmission of the coded packet from the router to multiple receivers. Coding-aware MAC studies the performance of network coding over different wireless MACs, IEEE 802.11 MAC and other efficient MAC. Coding-aware Geographic Forwarding includes two parts, first, Multirate Coding-aware Geographic Forwarding ensures the forwarder be able to choose the optimal next hop based on the geographic information in a multirate environment Second, Energy-efficient Coding-aware Geographic Forwarding studies the case in which optimal next hop is chosen with optimal broadcast transmission energy unit.