MBMS with User Cooperation and Network Coding

In this paper user cooperation with network coding is applied to MBMS (Multimedia broadcast/multicast service) where Raptor codes are currently used. User cooperation together with network coding is used to save bandwidth and improve user perceived QoS for broadcast/multicast services in the future mobile communication networks. The proposed approach is tailored to LTE networks and extended with local cooperation. The simulation results show that local retransmissions can reduce the amount of redundant information on the cellular link with up to 80% as long as there are at least two cooperative mobile devices. The results also show that network coding can save more than half of the traffic on the short-range link as long as there are four devices in the cooperation cluster.