A fountain code forward error correction strategy for SensLAB applications

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The discovery of sparse graph codes, used in forward error correction strate-gies, has had an unrivaled impact on Information theory over the past decade.A recent advancement in thisfield, called Fountain codes, have gained muchattention due to its intelligent rate adaptivity, and lend itself to applicationssuch as multicasting and broadcasting networks. These particular propertiescan be considered valuable in a wireless sensor network setting as it is capable of providing forward error correction, and the added conceptual networkprotocol related extensions.A wireless sensor network testbed in France, called SensLAB, provides anexperimental facility for researchers to develop and evaluate sensor networkprotocols, aside from a simulation environment. Tremendous value can beadded to the SensLAB community if an appropriate forward error correctiondesign, such as Fountain codes, is deemed feasible for use on such a platform.This thesis investigates the use of Fountain codes, in a binary erasure channel environment, as a forward error correction strategy for the distribution ofreliable data content over the SensLAB platform. A short message length LTcode using two different decoding mechanisms were developed and evaluatedfor possible implementation. Furthermore, a short message length Raptor codewas developed by using supplementary theory and optimisation techniquesthat permit scalability in terms of the message size. The results favoured theRaptor code design as it performs close to near optimal while still satisfyingthe rateless- and universality property, at low computational complexity.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University