Optimal Packet Size Analysis for Network Coding-Enabled Two-Hop Error-Prone Wireless Networks

Network coding has received great attention for its ability to dramatically improve the performance of wireless networks. However, there still is a lack of research on how and to which degree the packet size affects the performance of a wireless network with network coding. In this letter, we study the issue of optimal packet size for inter-flow network coding enabled two-hop error-prone wireless networks with the IEEE 802.11. We analyze the network throughput of such networks and then derive the optimal packet size for maximizing the network throughput under various cases. The simulation results validate the accuracy of our analytical results.