Wireless diversity through network coding

Abstract

This paper investigates the diversity gain offered by implementing network coding (R. Ahlswede et al., 2000) over wireless communication links. The network coding algorithm is applied to both a wireless network containing a distributed antenna system (DAS) as well as one that supports user cooperation between users. The results show that network-coded DAS leads to better diversity performance as compared to conventional DAS, at a lower hardware cost and higher spectral efficiency. In the case of user cooperation, network coding yields additional diversity, especially when there are multiple users