On the utility of network coding in dynamic environments

Abstract
Many wireless applications, such as ad-hoc net- works and sensor networks, require decentralized operation in dynamically varying environments. We consider a distributed randomized network coding approach that enables efficient de- centralized operation of multi-source multicast networks. We show that this approach provides substantial benefits over tra- ditional routing methods in dynamically varying environments. We present a set of empirical trials measuring the perfor- mance of network coding versus an approximate online Steiner tree routing approach when connections vary dynamically. The results show that network coding achieves superior performance in a significant fraction of our randomly generated network ex- amples. Such dynamic settings represent a substantially broader class of networking problems than previously recognized for which network coding shows promise of significant practical ben- efits compared to routing.

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