Our primary goal in this paper is to traverse the performance gap between two
linear network coding schemes: random linear network coding (RLNC) and
instantly decodable network coding (IDNC) in terms of throughput and decoding
delay. We first redefine the concept of packet generation and use it to
partition a block of partially-received data packets in a novel way, based on
the coding sets in an IDNC solution. By varying the generation size, we obtain
a general coding framework which consists of a series of coding schemes, with
RLNC and IDNC identified as two extreme cases. We then prove that the
throughput and decoding delay performance of all coding schemes in this coding
framework are bounded between the performance of RLNC and IDNC and hence
throughput-delay tradeoff becomes possible. We also propose implementations of
this coding framework to further improve its throughput and decoding delay
performance, to manage feedback frequency and coding complexity, or to achieve
in-block performance adaption. Extensive simulations are then provided to
verify the performance of the proposed coding schemes and their
implementations.Comment: 30 pages with double space, 14 color figure