Scalable Network Coding for Wireless Sensor Network Energy Conservation

Wireless sensor network (WSN) nodes called motes are small wireless embedded devices. They suffer from limitations of their power supplies and available bandwidth as well as in their memory and computational power. As a promising approach, network coding (NC) provides means of relaxing the combined problem of limited supplies and bandwidth. We present experimentation in modelling, simulation and measurement of a novel approach for robust scalable NC in dynamic environments. It is compared to routing in mesh structured, low data rate WSNs. For keeping it from being purely academic, we discuss the scalable concept's applicability to different applications, systems and topologies. We evaluate its energy conservation capabilities for Mica2 motes and show savings of up to 50%. This paper also highlights trade-offs and solutions that are applicable to other state-of-the-art systems as well.