Network coding meets information-centric networking

TLDR

Internet user behavior has shifted toward information exchange, prompting networking advances that focus on content rather than endpoints, with network coding and information‑centric networking emerging as independent but related trends. This paper unifies network coding and information‑centric networking at the internetworking layer to explore their joint potential. The authors outline novel, performance‑enhancing opportunities for applying network coding to advance information‑centric networking.

Abstract

User behavior in the Internet has changed over the recent years towards being driven by exchanging and accessing information. Many advances in networking technologies have utilized this change by focusing on the content of an exchange rather than on the endpoints exchanging the content, in particular to better support mobility. Network coding and information-centric networking are two examples of these trends, each being developed largely independently thus far. This paper brings these areas together at the internetworking layer. We outline opportunities for applying network coding in a novel and performance-enhancing way that could push forward the case for information-centric networking itself.