Information-centric networking with built-in network coding to achieve multisource transmission at network-layer

As one of the most promising future Internet, Information-Centric Networking (ICN) is attracting more attention. However, the previous works which have achieved either single-source transmission or low-efficiency multisource transmission did not fully exploit the potential of underlying its in-network caching opportunities. We propose Information-Centric Networking with Built-in Network Coding (ICN-NC) where in-network caching can be collaborated with network coding to achieve multisource transmission at network-layer. In ICN-NC, due to network coding, partitioned caching and parallel transmission with multiple data sources can be achieved. Moreover, four schemes are proposed to address the key challenges of ICN-NC: Firstly, a novel signature scheme ensures that signature scheme can be compatible with network coding. Secondly, a communication scheme based on piggyback technology ensures that the number of returned Coded Message (CM) is exactly matched with the desired number. Thirdly, we propose a forwarding plane separated from routing plane to observe the network state, such as network failure, link transmission performance and distribution of CM, where a strategy of forwarding Interest ensures that the probability of returned CM being linearly dependent is low. Fourthly, an acknowledgement mechanism ensures that the choice of Interest exploration direction is reasonable and adaptive. Finally, experiment results shows that ICN-NC can improve transmission efficiency, caching efficiency and robustness compared to original ICN and IP.