Cross-Layer Rate Control, Routing and Scheduling Design for Multicast with Network Coding in Ad Hoc Networks

Network coding is a powerful coding technique that has been proved to be very effective in achieving the maximum multicast capacity. It is especially suited for new emerging networks such as ad-hoc and sensor networks. In this paper, we develop a distributed rate control algorithm for multicast session in ad hoc networks. With random network coding, the algorithm can be implemented in a distributed manner, and work at transport layer to adjust source rates and at network layer to carry out network coding. The scheduling element of our algorithm is a dynamic scheduling policy. The stability of the resulted system is established, and simulation results are provided to support our conclusions.