Gossip-based algorithms for information dissemination have recently received significant attention for sensor and ad hoc network
applications because of their simplicity and robustness. However, a common drawback of many gossip-based protocols is the
waste of energy in passing redundant information over the network. Thus gossip algorithms need to be re-engineered in order
to become applicable to energy constrained networks. In this paper, we consider a scenario where each node in the network
holds a piece of information (message) at the beginning, and the objective is to simultaneously disseminate all information
(messages) among all nodes quickly and cheaply. To provide a practical solution to this problem for ad hoc and sensor networks,
NBgossip algorithm is proposed, which is based on network coding and neighborhood gossip. In NBgossip, nodes do not simply
forward messages they receive, instead, the linear combinations of the messages are sent out. In addition, every node exchanges
messages with its neighboring nodes only. Mathematical proof and simulation studies show that the proposed NBgossip terminates
in the optimal
O(
n)-order rounds and outperforms the existing gossip-based approaches in terms of energy consumption incurred in spreading all
the information.
Keywords data dissemination - gossip - network coding - sensor networks