Wireless Systems - Lecture
Network coding techniques
Elena Fasolo
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
March, 7th 2004
Definition of network coding (NC)
DEFINITION Network coding is a particular in-network data processing technique that exploits the characteristics of the wireless medium (in particular, the broadcast communication channel) in order to increase the capacity or the throughput of the network
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Pioneering work: [1] R. Ahlswede, N. Cai, S.-Y. R. Li, and R.W. Yeung, Network information flow, IEEE Trans. on Information Theory, vol. 46, no. 4, July 2000.
Improves the performance in data broadcasting Most suitable setting: all to all communications
Communication networks
TERMINOLOGY
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Communication network = finite directed graph Acyclic communication network = network without any direct cyclic Source node = node without any incoming edges (square) Channel = noiseless communication link for the transmission of a data unit per unit time (edge)
WX has capacity equal to 2
The canonical example (I)
Without network coding
Simple store and forward Multicast rate of 1.5 bits per time unit
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
The canonical example (II)
With network coding
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
X-OR is one of the simplest form of data coding Multicast rate of 2 bits per time unit Disadvantages
Coding/decoding scheme has to be agreed upon beforehand
NC and wireless communications
Problem: send b1 from A to B and b2 from B to A using node C as a relay A and B are not in communication range (r) Without network coding, 4 transmissions are required. With network coding, only 3 transmissions are needed
b1
(a)
r b1
(b)
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
b2
b2
(c)
Linear network coding
When we refer to linear network coding [2], we intend that: The output flow at a given node is obtained as a linear combination of its input flows. The coefficients of the combination are, by definition, selected from a finite field
Coding can be implemented at low computational cost
Moreover, the information traversing a non source node has the following property: The content of any information flowing out of a set of non source nodes can be derived from the accumulated information that has flown into the set of nodes
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
[2] S.-Y. R. Li, R. W. Yeung, and N. Cai, Linear network Coding, IEEE Trans. on Information Theory, vol. 49, no. 2, Feb. 2003.
Theoretical model for linear NC
Graph (V,E) having unit capacity edges Sender s in V, set of receivers T={t,} in V
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Source node of h symbols
Intermediate node
Destination node
Linear coding phase
Transmitted symbol
Local encoding vector
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Global encoding vector
Decoding phase
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Node t can recover the source symbols x1, . . . , xh as long as the matrix Gt, formed by the global encoding vectors, has (full) rank h.
-1
Inverting Gt
Gt will be invertible with high probability if local encoding vectors are random and the field size is sufficiently large [3]
P = 1 - |F| (where |F| is the cardinality of the finite field of coefficients)
Example: If field size = 216 and |E| = 28 then Gt will be invertible with probability 128 = 0.996
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
[3] R. Koetter,M.Medard, An algebraic approach to network coding, IEEE/ACM Trans. on Networking, Nov.2003
Theory vs. Practice
Theory:
Symbols flow synchronously throughout network Edges have unit (or known integer) capacities Centralized and full knowledge of topology, which is used to compute encoding and decoding functions
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Practice:
Information travels asynchronously in packets Packets subject to random delays and losses Edge capacities often unknown, time-varying Difficult to obtain centralized knowledge, or to arrange reliable broadcast of functions Need for simple solutions, applicable in practice
Practical Random NC
Main idea [4]:
Select the linear coefficients in a finite field of opportune size in a random way Send the encoding vector within the same packet
Packetization: Header removes need for centralized knowledge of graph topology and encoding/decoding functions Buffering: Allows asynchronous packets arrivals & departures with arbitrarily varying rates, delay, loss
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Nodes stores within their buffers the received packets
[4] P. A. Chou, T.Wu, and K. Jain, Practical network coding, in 51st Allerton Conf. Communication, Control and Computing, Oct. 2003.
Practical Algorithm
Each nodes sends out packets obtained as a random linear combination of packets stored in its buffer
Each node receives packets which are a linear combinations of source packets and it stores them into a matrix
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
If the matrix of a node has full rank (h) or a submatrix with full rank (r < h) exists, the node can decode h (or r) packets at the same time
Innovative packets or not
When a node receives a packet, it decides whether to store the packet or discard it
Innovative packet: it increases the current rank of the matrix Non innovative packet: it does not increase the rank of the matrix. It means that the packet contains redundant information and it is not needed to decode the source packets Hence, non innovative packets are dropped
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Generations
Need to synchronize
All packets related to same source vectors x1,, xh are said to be in the same generation; h is the generation size All packets in same generation are tagged with same generation number (one byte - mod 256 - is sufficient) Generations are useful to take into account the differences in data types, generation instants, priorities, etc.
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Packet Format
At source nodes
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
At the intermediated nodes
Summarizing
Transmission opportunity: generate packet
Random Combination
edge
edge
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Arriving packets (jitter, loss, variable rate)
Buffer
Asynchronous transmission
NODE
Observations about the decoding phase
Block decoding:
Collect h or more packets, hope to invert Gt
Early decoding (recommended):
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Perform Gaussian elimination after each RX packet At every node, detect & discard non-innovative packets Gt tends to be lower triangular, so it is typically possible to decode x1,,xk with fewer more than k packets
aij
It can be decoded
Much shorter decoding delay than block decoding
Approximately constant, independent of block length h
Costs and benefits
Cost:
Overhead of transmitting h extra symbols per packet
Example: h = 50 and field size = 28 overhead 50/1400 3%
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Benefits:
Receivers can decode even if
Network topology & encoding functions are unknown Nodes & edges added & removed in ad hoc manner Packet loss, node & link failures with unknown locations Local encoding vectors are time-varying & random
Energy efficient broadcasting with NC [5]
RING NETWORK
All nodes are senders; all nodes are receivers Tnc = # transmissions needed to broadcast with network coding Tw = # transmissions without network coding Lemma: Tnc/Tw
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Without NC = 6 transmissions (Tw n - 2 ) With NC = Tnc (n 1)/ 2
Achievable by physical piggybacking
[5] J. Widmer, C. Fragouli, and J.-Y. L. Boudec, Lowcomplexity energyefficient broadcasting in wireless adhoc networks usign network coding, in Proc.IEEE Information Theory Workshop, Oct. 2004.
Energy efficient broadcasting with NC
GRID NETWORK
Consider grid network (toroidal)
n = m2 nodes Without NC = Tw n2 / 3 With NC = Tnc n2 / 4
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Lemma: Tnc/Tw
Achievable by physical piggybacking
Broadcasting in random networks [6]
At each node v in the graph is associated a forwarding factor, dv. Source node v transmits its source symbols (or packets)
max{ 1, | dv | } times. An additional time with probability p = dv - max{ 1, | dv | } if p > 0.
When a node receives an innovative symbol (packet), it broadcasts a linear combination over the span of the received coding vectors
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
int(dv) times And TX a further copy with probability p = dv int(dv) if p > 0 dv = k / |N(v)| dv = k / min |N2(v)| where N2(v) are the number of 2-hops neighbors
Two heuristics:
[6] C. Fragouli, J. Widmer, and J.-Y. L. Boudec, A network coding approach to energy efficient broadcasting, Proceedings of INFOCOM06, April 2006.
Simulation results
All to all communication scenario
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Energy consumption: number of transmissions and receptions needed to gather all the required packets
Delay: number of time units needed to decode all the required packets
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
NC in multicast communications
Summary
Network Coding can be used in practice
Packetization Buffering Generation
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Network Coding is being applied to
Internet, Live broadcast, storage, messaging, peer2peer file sharing (eMULE of the future), Many open issues
Wireless ad hoc, mobile, and sensor networks
Network coding techniques Elena Fasolo
Wireless Systems - Lecture
Thank you!
