Network coding-based multicast scheduling for throughput enhancement in wireless ad hoc network

Since network coding is very useful for increasing the total throughput in wireless networks, it has recently gained much attention. However, there is few works focusing on network coding in the cyclic topology network, in which six nodes are connected to form a cluster. Considering the case that each node´s regional information is required to be exchanged among all the nodes in the cyclic network, we proposed a heuristic multicast scheduling scheme. At each time slot, only the designated group of nodes can transmit data simultaneously. For this reason, we considered the distributed power control to reduce interference. With our proposed scheme, it can be shown that the total throughput is substantially improved using wireless network coding. In addition, we analyzed the appropriate range of node locations, from which we can evaluate the corresponding system performance. Finally, the simulation results indicate that if the nodes are distributed almost evenly in an area, lower energy consumption and improved throughput can be achieved.