End-to-End Algebraic Network Coding for Wireless TCP/IP Networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces an end-to-end algebraic network coding approach for wireless TCP/IP networks that aims to improve throughput by hiding non-congestion-related packet losses from TCP using MDS codes.

Contribution

It proposes a novel network layer that transparently encodes packets with MDS codes to mitigate wireless losses without requiring changes to TCP.

Findings

Improved throughput in wireless networks

Reduced impact of non-congestion packet losses

Enhanced TCP performance in wireless environments

Abstract

The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) was designed to provide reliable transport services in wired networks. In such networks, packet losses mainly occur due to congestion. Hence, TCP was designed to apply congestion avoidance techniques to cope with packet losses. Nowadays, TCP is also utilized in wireless networks where, besides congestion, numerous other reasons for packet losses exist. This results in reduced throughput and increased transmission round-trip time when the state of the wireless channel is bad. We propose a new network layer, that transparently sits below the transport layer and hides non congestion-imposed packet losses from TCP. The network coding in this new layer is based on the well-known class of Maximum Distance Separable (MDS) codes.