On the Capacity Improvement of Multicast Traffic with Network Coding

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the impact of network coding on multicast capacity in wireless ad hoc networks with multi-packet transmission and reception, revealing that network coding does not improve order capacity under these capabilities.

Contribution

It demonstrates that network coding does not enhance the order capacity of multicast traffic when MPR and MPT are used, contrasting previous beliefs.

Findings

Achieves a tight bound of Θ(nT^3(n)) for multicast capacity with network coding.

Shows identical capacity order with only MPR and MPT capabilities, without network coding.

Provides a capacity gain of Θ(log^2 n) over point-to-point multicast with optimal range.

Abstract

In this paper, we study the contribution of network coding (NC) in improving the multicast capacity of random wireless ad hoc networks when nodes are endowed with multi-packet transmission (MPT) and multi-packet reception (MPR) capabilities. We show that a per session throughput capacity of $\Theta(nT^{3}(n))$, where $n$ is the total number of nodes and T(n) is the communication range, can be achieved as a tight bound when each session contains a constant number of sinks. Surprisingly, an identical order capacity can be achieved when nodes have only MPR and MPT capabilities. This result proves that NC does not contribute to the order capacity of multicast traffic in wireless ad hoc networks when MPR and MPT are used in the network. The result is in sharp contrast to the general belief (conjecture) that NC improves the order capacity of multicast. Furthermore, if the communication range is selected to guarantee the connectivity in the network, i.e., $T(n)\ge \Theta(\sqrt{\log n/n})$, then the combination of MPR and MPT achieves a throughput capacity of $\Theta(\frac{\log^{{3/2}} n}{\sqrt{n}})$ which provides an order capacity gain of $\Theta(\log^2 n)$ compared to the point-to-point multicast capacity with the same number of destinations.