Distributed Successive Approximation Coding using Broadcast Advantage: The Two-Encoder Case

Traditional distributed source coding rarely considers the possible link between separate encoders. However, the broadcast nature of wireless communication in sensor networks provides a free gossip mechanism which can be used to simplify encoding/decoding and reduce transmission power. Using this broadcast advantage, we present a new two-encoder scheme which imitates the ping-pong game and has a successive approximation structure. For the quadratic Gaussian case, we prove that this scheme is successively refinable on the {sum-rate, distortion pair} surface, which is characterized by the rate-distortion region of the distributed two-encoder source coding. A potential energy saving over conventional distributed coding is also illustrated. This ping-pong distributed coding idea can be extended to the multiple encoder case and provides the theoretical foundation for a new class of distributed image coding method in wireless scenarios.Comment: In Proceedings of the 48th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control and Computing, University of Illinois, Monticello, IL, September 29 - October 1, 201

Distributed Joint Source-Channel Coding in Wireless Sensor Networks

Considering the fact that sensors are energy-limited and the wireless channel conditions in wireless sensor networks, there is an urgent need for a low-complexity coding method with high compression ratio and noise-resisted features. This paper reviews the progress made in distributed joint source-channel coding which can address this issue. The main existing deployments, from the theory to practice, of distributed joint source-channel coding over the independent channels, the multiple access channels and the broadcast channels are introduced, respectively. To this end, we also present a practical scheme for compressing multiple correlated sources over the independent channels. The simulation results demonstrate the desired efficiency

Opportunistic source coding for data gathering in wireless sensor networks

We propose a jointly opportunistic source coding and oppor tunistic routing (OSCOR) protocol for correlated data gathering in wireless sensor networks. OSCOR improves data gathering efficiency by exploiting opportunistic data compression and multi-user diversity on wireless broadcast. OSCOR attacks challenges across network protocol layers by incorporating a slightly modified 802.11 MAC, a distributed source coding scheme based on Lempel-Ziv code and network coding, and a node compression ratio dependent metric combined with a modified Dijkstra's algorithm for path selection. We simulate OSCOR's performance and show it reduces the number of transmissions by nearly 25% compared with other schemes in small networks

On the utility of network coding in dynamic environments

Many wireless applications, such as ad-hoc networks and sensor networks, require decentralized operation in dynamically varying environments. We consider a distributed randomized network coding approach that enables efficient decentralized operation of multi-source multicast networks. We show that this approach provides substantial benefits over traditional routing methods in dynamically varying environments. We present a set of empirical trials measuring the performance of network coding versus an approximate online Steiner tree routing approach when connections vary dynamically. The results show that network coding achieves superior performance in a significant fraction of our randomly generated network examples. Such dynamic settings represent a substantially broader class of networking problems than previously recognized for which network coding shows promise of significant practical benefits compared to routing

Opportunistic Source Coding for Data Gathering in Wireless Sensor Networks

We propose a jointly opportunistic source coding and opportunistic routing (OSCOR) protocol for correlated data gathering in wireless sensor networks. OSCOR improves data gathering efficiency by exploiting opportunistic data compression and cooperative diversity associated with wireless broadcast advantage. The design of OSCOR involves several challenging issues across different network protocol layers. At the MAC layer, sensor nodes need to coordinate wireless transmission and packet forwarding to exploit multiuser diversity in packet reception. At the network layer, in order to achieve high diversity and compression gains, routing must be based on a metric that is dependent on not only link-quality but also compression opportunities. At the application layer, sensor nodes need a distributed source coding algorithm that has low coordination overhead and does not require the source distributions to be known. OSCOR provides practical solutions to these challenges incorporating a slightly modified 802.11 MAC, a distributed source coding scheme based on network coding and Lempel-Ziv coding, and a node compression ratio dependent metric combined with a modified Dijkstra's algorithm for path selection. We evaluate the performance of OSCOR through simulations, and show that OSCOR can potentially reduce power consumption by over 30% compared with an existing greedy scheme, routing driven compression, in a 4 x 4 grid network

Opportunistic source coding for data gathering in wireless sensor networks

We propose a jointly opportunistic source coding and oppor tunistic routing (OSCOR) protocol for correlated data gathering in wireless sensor networks. OSCOR improves data gathering efficiency by exploiting opportunistic data compression and multi-user diversity on wireless broadcast. OSCOR attacks challenges across network protocol layers by incorporating a slightly modified 802.11 MAC, a distributed source coding scheme based on Lempel-Ziv code and network coding, and a node compression ratio dependent metric combined with a modified Dijkstra's algorithm for path selection. We simulate OSCOR's performance and show it reduces the number of transmissions by nearly 25% compared with other schemes in small networks

A Survey of Network Coding and Applications

Common networks with source, internal, and destination nodes put data packets in queues for forwarding.Network coding aims to improve network throughput and energy consumption by combining received data packets before forwarding. In this survey, we will explore various network coding schemes, along with the behavior of network coding in applications. Sensor, wireless routing, and distributed storage networks can benefit greatly from network coding implementations. Flooding is a procedure in distributed systems which broadcasts a message to all nodes in the network. NC-Flooding is introduced, which uses network coding to possibly decrease the message complexity and/or time complexity of flooding

Cooperative Detection and Network Coding in Wireless Networks

In cooperative communication systems, multiple terminals in wireless networks share their antennas and resources for information exchange and processing. Recently, cooperative communications have been shown to achieve significant performance improvements in terms of transmission reliability, coverage area extension, and network throughput, with respect to existing classical communication systems. This dissertation is focused on two important applications of cooperative communications, namely: (i) cooperative distributed detection in wireless sensor networks, and (ii) many-to-many communications via cooperative space-time network coding. The first application of cooperative communications presented in this dissertation is concerned with the analysis and modeling of the deployment of cooperative relay nodes in wireless sensor networks. Particularly, in dense wireless sensor networks, sensor nodes continuously observe and collect measurements of a physical phenomenon. Such observations can be highly correlated, depending on the spatial separation between the sensor nodes as well as how the physical properties of the phenomenon are evolving over time. This unique characteristic of wireless sensor networks can be effectively exploited with cooperative communications and relays deployment such that the distributed detection performance is significantly improved as well as the energy efficiency. In particular, this dissertation studies the Amplify-and-Forward (AF) relays deployment as a function of the correlation of the observations and analyzes the achievable spatial diversity gains as compared with the classical wireless sensor networks. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the gains of cooperation can be further leveraged to alleviate bandwidth utilization inefficiencies in current sensor networks. Specifically, the deployment of cognitive AF cooperative relays to exploit empty/under-utilized time-slots and the resulting energy savings are studied, quantified and compared. The multiple terminal communication and information exchange form the second application of cooperative communications in this dissertation. Specifically, the novel concept of Space-Time-Network Coding (STNC) that is concerned with formulation of the many-to-many cooperative communications over Decode-and-Forward (DF) nodes is studied and analyzed. Moreover, the exact theoretical analysis as well as upper-bounds on the network symbol error rate performance are derived. In addition, the tradeoff between the number of communicating nodes and the timing synchronization errors is analyzed and provided as a network design guideline. With STNC, it is illustrated that cooperative diversity gains are fully exploited per node and significant performance improvements are achieved. It is concluded that the STNC scheme serves as a potential many-to-many cooperative communications scheme and that its scope goes much further beyond the generic source-relay-destination communications

Decoder-learning based distributed source coding for high-efficiency, low-cost and secure multimedia communications

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on November 10, 2010).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Dissertation advisor: Dr. Wenjun ZengVita.Ph. D. University of Missouri--Columbia 2008.Conventional multimedia compression leverages the source statistics at the encoder side. This is not suitable for some emerging applications such as wireless sensor networks, where the encoders usually have limited functionalities and power supplies, therefore it is desired to shift the bulk of computational burden to the decoder side. The resulting new coding paradigm is called distributed source coding (DSC). Most practical DSC schemes only achieve good results when a priori knowledge about the source statistics is assumed. For DSC of real-world sources such as images and videos, such knowledge is not really available. In this dissertation, we focus on designing decoder-side learning schemes for better understanding of the source statistics, based on which practical DSC systems can be built for high-efficiency, low-cost, and secure multimedia communications. We have studied distributed video coding and compression of encrypted images and videos. We propose to enable partial access to the current source through progressive decoding, such that the decoder's knowledge about the source statistics can be progressively refined. The resulting schemes have achieved significant improvement in coding efficiency. We also studied the rate allocation problem to optimize the power consumption in transmitting multiple correlated sources over a wireless sensor network. The framework developed in this dissertation will provide significant insights and become important building blocks in distributed video applications, including those that are of significant importance to the national security, agriculture, economy, and healthcare.Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-137)