A novel network coded parallel transmission framework for high-speed Ethernet

Parallel transmission, as defined in high-speed Ethernet standards, enables to use less expensive optoelectronics and offers backwards compatibility with legacy Optical Transport Network (OTN) infrastructure. However, optimal parallel transmission does not scale to large networks, as it requires computationally expensive optimal multipath routing algorithms to minimize differential delay, and thus the required buffer size to ensure frame synchronization. In this paper, we propose a novel parallel transmission framework for high-speed Ethernet, which we refer to as network coded parallel transmission, capable of effective buffer management and frame synchronization without the need for complex multipath algorithms. We show that using network coding can reduce the delay caused by packet reordering at the receiver, thus requiring a smaller overall buffer size, while improving the network throughput. We design the framework in full compliance with high-speed Ethernet standards specified in IEEE802.3ba and present detailed schemes including encoding, data structure of coded parallel transmission, buffer management and decoding at the receiver side. The proposed network coded parallel transmission framework is simple to implement and presents a potential major breakthrough in the system design of future high-speed Ethernet.