On Throughput and Decoding Delay Performance of Instantly Decodable Network Coding

In this paper, a comprehensive study of packetbased instantly decodable network coding (IDNC) for singlehop wireless broadcast is presented. The optimal IDNC solution in terms of throughput is proposed and its packet decoding delay performance is investigated. Lower and upper bounds on the achievable throughput and decoding delay performance of IDNC are derived and assessed through extensive simulations. Furthermore, the impact of receivers’ feedback frequency on the performance of IDNC is studied and optimal IDNC solutions are proposed for scenarios where receivers’ feedback is only available after an IDNC round, composed of several coded transmissions. However, since finding these IDNC optimal solutions is computationally complex, we further propose simple yet efficient heuristic IDNC algorithms. The impact of system settings and parameters such as channel erasure probability, feedback frequency, and the number of receivers is also investigated and simple guidelines for practical implementations of IDNC are proposed.