Resilient Coding Algorithms for Sensor Network Data Persistence

Storing and disseminating coded information instead of the original data can bring significant performance improvements to sensor network protocols. Such methods reduce the risk of having some data replicated at many nodes, whereas other data is very scarce. This is of particular importance for data persistence in sensor networks. While coding is generally beneficial, coding over all available packets can be detrimental to performance, since coded information might not be decodable after a network failure. In this paper we investigate the suitability of different codeword degree distributions with respect to the dynamics of the underlying wireless network and design a corresponding data management algorithm. We further propose a simple buffer management scheme for continuous data gathering. The performance of the protocols is demonstrated by means of simulation, as well as experiments with an implementation on MICAz motes.