Network coding in Underwater Sensor Networks

In this paper, we expand upon previous work in the application of network coding to Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSN). Network coding allows information from multiple packets to be encoded into a single packet and decoded upon receiving sufficient linearly independent encoded packets, improving throughput and providing redundancy for error recovery. Encoding and decoding algorithms for network coding are reviewed, and an algorithm capable of implementing network coding on an UWSN with arbitrary block size, packet length, and symbol size is presented. The network coding algorithms are implemented on real UWSN nodes utilizing our hardware and software platforms and tested using our UWSN testbed. Initial results indicate improved throughput with less overhead than other error-recovery techniques.