Throughput and Energy Optimization in Wireless Networks: Joint MAC Scheduling and Network Coding

This paper studies joint scheduling and network coding in wireless multicast networks with independent sources. Designing a network coding solution for wireless networks involves scheduling interference-free transmissions and optimizing a performance measure for the predetermined scheduling sets, followed by constructing network codes for the specific solution. In such a design process, the results of prior steps need to provide enough information to the subsequent steps. In this paper, we formulate a linear optimization problem whose results can be used to design a coding solution. We build our work on previous works and present statistics that show the importance of incorporating unequal timeshares in designing network codes. In particular, our statistics show a throughput improvement of about 35% in maximum flow problems and energy savings between 13% and 30%, depending on the network size, in minimum energy problems. We also present the requirements of code construction algorithms for wireless networks that capture the broadcast property of these networks and can design proper codes when timeshares are unequal. In particular, the adaptation of a centralized network coding scheme for wireless networks is discussed. Overall, the work reported here provides a three-step solution to derive network codes that optimize a performance criterion of interest while also solving the scheduling problem in multihop wireless networks.