Flow augmenting routing with network coding for lifetime maximization in wireless networks

The lifetime maximization routing with network coding in wireless multihop networks is considered in this paper. The problems is formulated in three different cases: (i) no network coding, (ii) two-way network coding, and (iii) overhearing network coding. Flow augmenting routing (FA) is used to solve the first case, and then it is extended to FA with network coding (FANC) for the latter two. The performance of FANC with two-way and overhearing network coding schemes is evaluated and compared with that without network coding under two different power control models, namely, protocol and physical ones. The results show that the lifetime can be improved up to 23% and 8% in a random network under the protocol and physical models, respectively. It is also found that the lifetime improvement ratio increases as the number of traffic demands under the protocol model, while it increases first, and then decreases under the physical model.