Improved Adaptive Random Convolutional Network Coding Algorithm

To address the issue of field size in random network coding, we propose an Improved Adaptive Random Convolutional Network Coding (IARCNC) algorithm to considerably reduce the amount of occupied memory. The operation of IARCNC is similar to that of Adaptive Random Convolutional Network Coding (ARCNC), with the coefficients of local encoding kernels chosen uniformly at random over a small finite field. The difference is that the length of the local encoding kernels at the nodes used by IARCNC is constrained by the depth; meanwhile, increases until all the related sink nodes can be decoded. This restriction can make the code length distribution more reasonable. Therefore, IARCNC retains the advantages of ARCNC, such as a small decoding delay and partial adaptation to an unknown topology without an early estimation of the field size. In addition, it has its own advantage, that is, a higher reduction in memory use. The simulation and the example show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.