Physical-Layer Algebraic Network Coding and Superposition Coding for the Multi-Source Cooperation Aided Uplink

In this paper, we consider coding schemes designed for energy efficient multi-source cooperation. More explicitly, we propose both a powerful superposition coding scheme and a physical-layer algebraic network coding scheme. The concept of generalised network coding is introduced and the relation between superposition coding and network coding is revealed. Our simulation results demonstrate that both of the proposed schemes are capable of performing close to the outage probability bound at the lower end of the target transmit power range. Moreover, compared to the superposition coding scheme considered, the proposed algebraic network coding arrangement imposes a lower complexity at the cost of a slight performance degradation, while maintaining the same throughput and delay.