Adjustable random linear network coding (ARLNC): a solution for data transmission in dynamic IoT computational environments

Abstract

In mobile computing environments, most IoT devices connected to networks experience variable error rates and possess limited bandwidth. The conventional method of retransmitting lost information during transmission, commonly used in data transmission protocols, increases transmission delay and consumes excessive bandwidth. To overcome this issue, forward error correction techniques, e.g., Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) can be used in data transmission. The primary challenge in RLNC-based methodologies is sustaining a consistent coding ratio during data transmission, leading to notable bandwidth usage and transmission delay in dynamic network conditions. Therefore, this study proposes a new block-based RLNC strategy known as Adjustable RLNC (ARLNC), which dynamically adjusts the coding ratio and transmission window during runtime based on the estimated network error rate calculated via receiver feedback. The calculations in this approach are performed using a Galois field with the order of 256. Furthermore, we assessed ARLNC's performance by subjecting it to various error models such as Gilbert Elliott, exponential, and constant rates and compared it with the standard RLNC. The results show that dynamically adjusting the coding ratio and transmission window size based on network conditions significantly enhances network throughput and reduces total transmission delay in most scenarios. In contrast to the conventional RLNC method employing a fixed coding ratio, the presented approach has demonstrated significant enhancements, resulting in a 73% decrease in transmission delay and a 4 times augmentation in throughput. However, in dynamic computational environments, ARLNC generally incurs higher computational costs than the standard RLNC but excels in high-performance networks.