Modifying Network Coding with TCP for media streaming in multi-hop wireless networks

The paper focuses on using Network Coding (NC) with TCP for multi-hop wireless networks to provide fault-tolerant and timely delivery of streaming data. The paper shows that there is an inherent latency in video playback when TCP with random linear NC is employed. With the objective of reducing latency and jitter at the receiver, the paper proposes a Variable Bucket size based Network Coding (VBNC) technique that modifies the TCP congestion control to adapt to the arriving traffic and dynamic network conditions. Simulation results demonstrate that on an average the proposed algorithm reduces observed latency at playback by 80% and jitter by more than 50% over standard TCP. More importantly, a significant reduction in the initial start-up delay is observed which enhances the performance of streaming services.