Application-Layer FEC for file delivery over the WiMAX unicast networks

FLUTE is a file delivery protocol whose operation can only require a unidirectional communication channel from a sender to a receiver. Due to the nature of unidirectional delivery, FLUTE is designed in a flexible way so that it can cooperate with different kinds of forward error correction codes in application layer, such as systematic Raptor codes or other FEC codes defined in IETF. Besides, since FLUTE is a generic IP-based file delivery protocol, it is already applied for multicast-based file distribution in IP-based mobile TV standards such as DVB-IPDC and OMA BCAST. In addition, the FLUTE protocol can also be applied for long haul, multi-hop file delivery in an IP-based intranet. In this paper, we describe the experience of using the FLUTE protocol for file delivery over a WiMAX unicast network and show the performance gain of employing a systematic Raptor code as the application layer FEC for FLUTE.