Network Coded Cooperation in Delay Tolerant Networks

Implementation of network coding (NC) is expanding to a diverse set of networks due to the flexible design provided through its use, enabling a trade-off between robustness and spectral efficiency. In this paper, we investigate the application of NC in delay tolerant networks (DTN) through the use of software defined radio (SDR) nodes. We specifically focus on a deep space network scenario with large delays between nodes. Specifically, we implement a network coded cooperation (NCC) system that also makes use of the spatial diversity introduced from the environment using four SDR nodes. We compare the error performance of the implemented NCC system with a decode and forward (DF) cooperation scheme. Our results demonstrate that the NCC is a reliable option for DTN, providing comparable error rates with DF and at the same time improving spectral and energy efficiency of the target network.