On the Benefits of Random Linear Coding for Unicast Applications in Disruption Tolerant Networks
In this paper, the authors investigate the benefits of using a form of network coding known as Random Linear Coding (RLC) for unicast communications in a mobile Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN) under epidemic routing. Under RLC, DTN nodes store and then forward random linear combinations of packets as they encounter other DTN nodes. They first consider the case where there is a single block of K packets propagating in the network and then consider the case where blocks of K packets arrive according to a Poisson arrival process. Their performance metric of interest is the delay until the last packet in a block is delivered.
