Multi-Path Low Delay Network Codes

The capability of mobile devices to use multiple interfaces to support a single session is becoming more prevalent. Prime examples include the desire to implement WiFi offloading and the introduction of 5G. Furthermore, an increasing fraction of Internet traffic is becoming delay sensitive. These tw...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cloud, Jason M, Medard, Muriel
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113398
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5638-6246
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4059-407X
Description
Summary:The capability of mobile devices to use multiple interfaces to support a single session is becoming more prevalent. Prime examples include the desire to implement WiFi offloading and the introduction of 5G. Furthermore, an increasing fraction of Internet traffic is becoming delay sensitive. These two trends drive the need to investigate methods that enable communication over multiple parallel heterogeneous networks, while also ensuring that delay constraints are met. This paper approaches these challenges using a multi-path streaming code that uses forward error correction to reduce the in-order delivery delay of packets in networks with poor link quality and transient connectivity. A simple analysis is developed that provides a good approximation of the in-order delivery delay. Furthermore, numerical results help show that the delay penalty of communicating over multiple paths is insignificant when considering the potential throughput gains obtained through the fusion of multiple networks.