On Using Dual Interfaces With Network Coding for Delivery Delay Reduction

Abstract

This paper considers a heterogeneous network architecture wherein devices use two wireless interfaces to receive packets from the base station and to transmit or receive packets from other devices concurrently. For such a network architecture, this paper focuses on time-critical and order-constrained applications that require quick and reliable in-order decoding of the packets. This paper first introduces the dual delivery delay as a measure of degradation compared with the optimal in-order packet delivery to the devices. It then addresses the minimum delivery delay problem using instantly decodable network coding (IDNC). In particular, the dual interface IDNC graph is constructed to represent all feasible coding opportunities and conflict-free transmissions. Subsequently, the minimum delivery delay problem is shown to be equivalent to a maximum weight independent set selection problem over the dual interface IDNC graph. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed IDNC algorithm effectively reduces the delivery delay as compared with the existing network coding algorithms. Especially, for a layered video transmission, the proposed solution provides a sequential delivering of video layers to individual devices.