Implementation Considerations for Network Coding in Sensor Networks

The implementation of network coding in energy-challenged sensor networks, such body area networks, requires consideration of the energy cost of coding and the benefits that coding can provide in reducing the number of transmissions for successful reception. In this talk, we consider three different aspects of implementing network coding in body area networks, from low-level construction of modules in chips, to full circuit integration, to protocol design. The first concerns the choices of implementation of finite field arithmetic for network coding, trading off computational complexity for retransmission. The second issue considers the overall use of energy, when network coding and physical-layer error correction can be used in a complementary fashion. Finally, we consider energy use when coding is incorporated in the transmission protocol. Coding changes the way in which acknowledgements are managed, as well as forwarding in the types of simple relay scenarios that arise in body area networks.