Network coding based reliable disjoint and braided multipath routing for sensor networks

This paper presents network coding based reliable disjoint and braided multipath routing (NC-RMR) for sensor networks, which forms multipath by hop-by-hop method and only maintains local path information of each node without establishing end-to-end paths. Neighbors of each local node are divided into groups according to their hops to sink nodes to improve the network load balancing. For further performance improvement of NC-RMR with disjoint multipath model, local nodes select their own backup nodes in neighbor nodes to form additional logical paths, which implement a braided multipath model. Security advantages of NC-RMR with multipath and network coding mechanisms are analyzed. Analytical and simulation results prove that braided multipath routing model has better performance over disjoint model, and NC-RMR protocol can reduce the required number of transmission paths, ensure load balance of sensor network system, reduce the energy consumption of nodes. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.