Cross-layer design with multi-packet reception, MAC, and network coding in multi-hop networks

Abstract

A cross-layer design approach is proposed that can be used to optimize the cooperative use of multi-packet reception (MPR) and network coding. A simple and intuitive model is constructed for the behavior of an opportunistic network coding scheme called COPE proposed by Katti et. al., MPR, the 802.11 MAC, and their combination. The model is then applied to key small canonical topology components and their larger counterparts. The results obtained from this model match the available experimental results with fidelity. Using this model, fairness allocation by the 802.11 MAC is shown to significantly impede performance and cause non-monotonic saturation behaviors; hence, a new MAC approach is devised that not only substantially improves throughput by providing monotonic saturation but provides fairness to flows of information rather than to nodes. Using this improved MAC, it is shown that cooperation between network coding and MPR achieves super-additive gains of up to 6.3 times that of routing alone with the standard 802.11 MAC. Furthermore, the model is extended to analyze the improved MAC's asymptotic, delay, and throughput behaviors. Finally, it is shown that although network performance is reduced under substantial asymmetry or limited implementation of MPR to a central/bottleneck node, there are some important practical cases, even under these conditions, where MPR, network coding, and their combination provide significant gains.