Efficient communication over cellular networks with network coding in emergency scenarios

Emergency communications require reliability and flexibility for disaster recovery and relief operation. Based upon existing commercial portable devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, laptops), we propose a network architecture that uses cellular networks and WiFi connections to deliver large files (e.g. detailed maps) in emergency scenarios under the impairments of wireless channel such as packet losses and intermittent connection. Network coding (NC) is exploited to improve the delivery probability beyond cellular coverage. We first review the state-of-the-art of NC for emergency communications. Then, we present the proposed network architecture which utilizes multiple radio interfaces of portable devices to support data delivery. A random linear NC scheme is exploited both at the source and intermediate nodes, and an analytical model for the successful decoding probability is derived. Finally, we evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed architecture with NC in terms of the delivery ratio of content for intermittent connectivity scenarios.