NC node selection game in collaborative streaming systems

Network coding has been recently proposed as an efficient method to improve throughput, minimize delays and remove the need for reconciliation between network nodes in distributed streaming systems. It permits to take advantage of the path and node diversity in the network when the network coding nodes are placed efficiently. In this paper, we investigate networks consisting of nodes that autonomously determine whether they should perform network coding or not as well as their set of parent nodes. Each node makes its decisions that maximize its quality of service. The decisions include the selection of operation mode (i.e., network coding mode, simple data forwarding mode) and the selection of extra connections. The resulting interactions among the nodes are modeled as a congestion game, thereby ensuring an equilibrium, i.e., stable multimedia stream flow. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme is appropriate for distributed multimedia transmission since it provides a stable quality without imposing centralized control.