text: Interference in wireless networks is one of the key capacity-limiting factors. Recently developed interference-embracing techniques show promising performance on turning collisions into useful transmissions. However, the interference-embracing techniques are hard to apply in practical applications due to their strict requirements. In this paper, we consider utilizing the interference-embracing techniques in a common scenario of two interfering sender-receiver pairs. By employing opportunistic listening and analog network coding (ANC), we show that compared to traditional ARQ retransmission, a higher retransmission throughput can be achieved by allowing two interfering senders to cooperatively retransmit selected lost packets at the same time. This simultaneous retransmission is facilitated by a simple handshaking procedure without introducing additional overhead. Simulation results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed cooperative retransmission.
  @cite_5: A main distinguishing feature of a wireless network compared with a wired network is its broadcast nature, in which the signal transmitted by a node may reach several other nodes, and a node may receive signals from several other nodes simultaneously. Rather than a blessing, this feature is treated more as an interference-inducing nuisance in most wireless networks today (e.g., IEEE 802.11). The goal of this paper is to show how the concept of network coding can be applied at the physical layer to turn the broadcast property into a capacity-boosting advantage in wireless ad hoc networks. Specifically, we propose a physical-layer network coding (PNC) scheme to coordinate transmissions among nodes. In contrast to "straightforward" network coding which performs coding arithmetic on digital bit streams after they have been received, PNC makes use of the additive nature of simultaneously arriving electromagnetic (EM) waves for equivalent coding operation. PNC can yield higher capacity than straight-forward network coding when applied to wireless networks. We believe this is a first paper that ventures into EM-wave-based network coding at the physical layer and demonstrates its potential for boosting network capacity. PNC opens up a whole new research area because of its implications and new design requirements for the physical, MAC, and network layers of ad hoc wireless stations. The resolution of the many outstanding but interesting issues in PNC may lead to a revolutionary new paradigm for wireless ad hoc networking.
  @cite_1: A new technique is presented to separate two cochannel frequency modulation signals. Two candidate solutions for the phases are analytically derived, and a sequence of phase solutions is chosen to match the expected power spectral density of each constituent signal. This is accomplished with a one-step linear predictor and a simple two-state Viterbi algorithm. Simulations on recorded radio frequency data indicate improved separation capability over other techniques such as the joint Viterbi algorithm and cross-coupled phase-locked loop.
  @cite_2: Traditionally, interference is considered harmful. Wireless networks strive to avoid scheduling multiple transmissions at the same time in order to prevent interference. This paper adopts the opposite approach; it encourages strategically picked senders to interfere. Instead of forwarding packets, routers forward the interfering signals. The destination leverages network-level information to cancel the interference and recover the signal destined to it. The result is analog network coding because it mixes signals not bits. So, what if wireless routers forward signals instead of packets? Theoretically, such an approach doubles the capacity of the canonical 2-way relay network. Surprisingly, it is also practical. We implement our design using software radios and show that it achieves significantly higher throughput than both traditional wireless routing and prior work on wireless network coding.
summary: The idea of turning a collision of two simultaneous wireless transmissions into a useful transmission was first introduced in PNC @cite_5 . In particular, the authors proposed a frame-based decode-and-forward strategy in packet forwarding. In their scenario of a relay network, two nodes transmit simultaneously to a common receiver. Assuming perfect transmission synchronization at the physical layer, based on the additive nature of simultaneously arriving (EM), the receiver detects a single collided signal which is the sum of the two transmitted signals. Using a suitable mapping scheme, they show that for certain modulation schemes, there exists a mapping scheme such that the relationship between the two transmitted binary bits and the decoded binary bit follows the (XOR) principle. ANC @cite_2 was further proposed to relax the restrictions of symbol-level synchronization, carrier-frequency synchronization and carrier-phase synchronization required in PNC, which makes ANC more practical. Specifically, ANC is able to decode an unknown packet @math from a collided packet @math We use the notation @math to denote a collision of two packet transmissions. based on the known packet @math by leveraging the co-channel FM signal separation technique @cite_1 and network layer information to cancel the interference.