Network coding assisted mobile-to-mobile file transfer

This paper is a sequel of previous work, in which we have studied the problem of congestions on the typically overloaded downlink channels in UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) networks. Our concept is based on the uplink/downlink traffic imbalance in 3G wireless networks and is realized by organizing seamless cooperation between peer-to-peer and cellular networks using a unified radio interface for both systems. The primary goal is to improve the spectral efficiency of cellular networks by enabling direct mobile-to-mobile (m2m) communication on temporarily unused uplink channels for the distribution of a large popular content in a non-real time multicast manner. The aim of this work is to further improve the interaction between cellular and peer-to-peer networks by generalizing the traditional scheduling paradigm. A network coding technique is embedded as a solution to the scheduling problem in the distributed dynamic environment of wireless large-scale networks. We investigate the performance of the system in terms of dependability of information distribution among m2m users. Simulations demonstrate the enhanced performance of the file distribution in terms of file download time. Furthermore, the obtained results highlight that network coding based m2m data transfer allows distribution of popular files to a large number of users while placing minimal bandwidth requirements on the central server.