Joint fountain coding and network coding for loss-tolerant information spreading

1. A network system for increasing data throughput and decreasing transmission delay along a data link from a source node to a sink node via at least one relay node, the network system comprising:

at least one second node configured to:

receive a first plurality of data packets from a first node,

estimate a rank distribution associated with the first plurality of data packets, wherein the estimated rank distribution comprises probabilities of ranks of the first plurality of data packets and expresses a quality of the data link,

decrease average values of the estimated rank distribution by a safety margin, and

then transmit the estimated rank distribution to the first node; and

the first node being configured to encode a second plurality of data packets using rateless coding based at least in part on the estimated rank distribution, and transmit the encoded second plurality of data packets, wherein

the first node comprises the source node, and

the at least one second node comprises at least one of the sink node or the at least one relay node.

2. The network system of claim 1 , wherein:

the at least one second node comprises the sink node configured to:

receive one or more of the encoded second plurality of data packets from the source node via the at least one relay node, and

if the sink node has received a sufficient quantity of the encoded second plurality of data packets, regenerate and decode the second plurality of data packets.

3. The network system of claim 2 , wherein:

the source node is further configured to, prior to transmitting the encoded second plurality of data packets, transmit the first plurality of data packets, and

the at least one relay node is configured to, prior to receiving at least one of the encoded second plurality of data packets from the first node, receive at least one of the first plurality of data packets from the source node and relay the at least one of the first plurality of data packets, the first plurality of data packets comprising a plurality of full-rank batches.

4. The network system of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of full-rank batches comprises between about 20 and 60 full-rank batches.

5. The network system of claim 2 , wherein:

the at least one relay node is further configured to relay the estimated rank distribution, and

the source node is further configured to:

receive the estimated rank distribution from the at least one relay node; and

acknowledge the estimated rank distribution.

6. The network system of claim 1 , wherein:

the at least one second node comprises the at least one relay node configured to:

receive at least one of the encoded second plurality of data packets from the source node, and

if the at least one relay node has received a sufficient quantity of the encoded second plurality of data packets, regenerate, re-encode, and relay the second plurality of data packets to an additional relay node or a sink node.

7. The network system of claim 1 , wherein the safety margin is between 1 percent of the estimated rank distribution and 7 percent of the estimated rank distribution.

8. At least one computer-readable and non-transitory storage medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method for increasing data throughput and decreasing transmission delay along a data link from a source node to a sink node via at least one relay node, the method comprising:

receiving, from the at least one relay node, a first plurality of data packets;

estimating a rank distribution associated with the first plurality of data packets, wherein the estimated rank distribution comprises probabilities of ranks of the first plurality of data packets and expresses a quality of the data link;

decreasing the estimated rank distribution by a safety margin;

and then transmitting the estimated rank distribution to the source node;

receiving a second plurality of data packets, wherein the second plurality of data packets are encoded by the source code based at least in part on the estimated rank distribution; and

if a sufficient quantity of the second plurality of data packets are received, regenerating and decoding the second plurality of data packets.

9. The at least one computer-readable and non-transitory storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the safety margin is between about 1 percent of the estimated rank distribution and about 7 percent of the estimated rank distribution.

10. The at least one computer-readable and non-transitory storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the first plurality of data packets comprises a plurality of full-rank batches.

11. The at least one computer-readable and non-transitory storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the first plurality of full-rank batches comprises between about 20 and 60 full-rank batches.

12. The at least one computer-readable and non-transitory storage medium of claim 8 , the method further comprising receiving, from the source node, an acknowledgement of the estimated rank distribution.

13. A network system for increasing data throughput and decreasing transmission delay along a data link from a source node to a sink node via at least one relay node, the network system comprising:

the source node configured to encode a plurality of data packets using rateless coding and transmit the encoded plurality of data packets, wherein (1) the encoding is based at least in part on an estimated rank distribution, (2) the estimated rank distribution is estimated by the sink node or the at least one relay node, (3) the estimated rank distribution comprises probabilities of ranks of a plurality of pilot data packets received from the source node and expresses a quality of the data link; and

the at least one relay node configured to:

estimate the estimated rank distribution based on the plurality of pilot data packets, decrease average values of the estimated rank distribution by a safety margin, and then transmit the estimated rank distribution to the source node,

receive at least one of the encoded plurality of data packets from the source node,

if the at least one relay node has received a sufficient quantity of the encoded plurality of data packets:

regenerate and re-encode the plurality of data packets,

buffer the plurality of data packets until a transmit buffer can accommodate enough data packets to fill an entire batch with data packets, and

relay the entire batch of data packets based on the transmit buffer holding enough data packets to fill the entire batch.

14. The network system of claim 13 , wherein:

the at least one relay node is further configured to, until the transmit buffer can accommodate enough data packets to fill the entire batch with data packets, discard additional batches received.

15. The network system of claim 13 , wherein the safety margin is between 1 percent of the estimated rank distribution and 7 percent of the estimated rank distribution.

16. The network system of claim 13 , wherein:

the network system further comprises a sink node configured to:

receive one or more of the plurality of data packets from the at least one relay node, and

if the sink node has received the sufficient quantity of the plurality of data packets, regenerate and decode the plurality of data packets,

the source node is further configured to, prior to transmitting the plurality of data packets, transmit a plurality of full-rank batches,

the at least one relay node is further configured to, prior to receiving the at least one of the plurality of data packets from the source node, receive at least one of the plurality of full-rank batches from the source node and relay the at least one of the plurality of full-rank batches, and

the sink node is further configured to, prior to receiving the one or more of the plurality of data packets from the at least one relay node:

receive one or more of the plurality of full-rank batches from the at least one relay node,

estimate the rank distribution based on the one or more of the plurality of full-rank batches, and

transmit the estimated rank distribution to the source node.