Broadcasting in MANETs Using Multi-Source Random Linear Network Coding
Kashif Mahmood, Thomas Kunz and Ashraf Matrawy
Multicasting and broadcasting are important communication techniques in wireless adhoc networks. Recently, Network Coding (NC), which has emerged as a promising technique for various applications, has been applied to multicast and broadcast in wireless adhoc networks. Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) is one type of NC that does not require prior knowledge of what the neighbors have received and therefore is relatively easy to implement as a distributed protocol, even in highly mobile adhoc environments. Existing protocols based on RLNC are mostly dealing with single source multicasting or broadcasting. In case of multi-source operation, they then essentially apply the protocol for single- source sessions multiple times, once per source. In this paper we propose an adaptive multi-source broadcasting protocol using RLNC called Adaptive Random Linear Network Coding with Controlled Forwarding (ARLNCCF). The main contributions of this paper and key features of our protocol include its multi-source operation by allowing intermixing of symbols from different sources and its adaptive nature by controlling the number of re-transmissions effectively based on neighborhood information. We have compared the performance of our protocol to other broadcast protocols, such as simple flooding, probabilistic flooding, BCAST and efficient Simplified Multicast Forwarding (SMF). Compared to these protocols, ARLNCCF is an efficient broadcasting protocol. We also demonstrate through simulations that in a multi-source environment, allowing intermixing of symbols from different sources significantly improves PDR and reduces latency.
Keywords: Random linear network coding, wireless broadcasting, adhoc networks, multi-source, manets, cross-session