Minimum cost optimization of multicast wireless networks with network coding

Minimum cost optimization for multicast with network coding has attracted great research interests. In this paper, based on an information model that differentiates intermediate nodes in a multicast network into network coding, routing or replicating nodes, a method is developed to solve the minimum energy cost multicast problem in wireless networks. Besides transmission energy, many other important parameters can be conveniently optimized as well, such as the number of packets undergoing network coding, the number of network coding nodes, as well as node classification. Some simulations results are shown to verify that the proposed method is promising, especially since network coding may be expensive or impossible for certain wireless nodes.