Performance modeling of data transmission by using random linear network coding in DTNs

摘要

In Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs), mobile nodes exploit encounter chances to transmit data via the established opportunistic link between encounter nodes. The transmission capacity between two encounter nodes is constrained by the duration of opportunistic links. How to transmit data efficiently is one of the fundamental and most important issues in DTNs. Recently, Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) is proposed as a promising approach to improve data transmission efficiency in DTNs. To facilitate the development of deployment of RLNC based routing protocols, it is imperative to quantify the performance gain brought by RLNC in a rigorous and systematic way. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to evaluate the data transmission performance of RLNC based epidemic routing in DTNs. In the model, we consider that multiple unicast communication sessions compete for limited capacity. Numerical results validate the effectiveness of our analytical model and demonstrate the significant performance improvement for data transmission in DTNs brought by RLNC. Our work of this paper provides a general tool for performance evaluation and useful guidelines for designing RLNC based routing protocols in DTNs. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.