Wireless Network Compression Via Memory-Enabled Overhearing Helpers

Traces derived from real-world traffic show that significant redundancy exists at the packet level in mobile network traffic. This has inspired new solutions to suppress the redundancy present in the packet data to manage the explosive traffic. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to performing redundancy elimination by employing universal compression using memory-enabled overhearing helpers without backhaul connectivity, referred to as wireless network compression. The helpers overhear the data packets previously sent by the wireless gateway to various mobile clients within their coverage and use them as side information to reduce the overall communication cost. We study wireless network compression via overhearing helpers from an information-theoretic point of view and conclude that this approach potentially offers a threefold benefit: 1) offloading the wireless gateway and hence increasing the maximum number of mobile nodes the gateway can reliably serve; 2) reducing the average packet delay; and 3) improving the overall throughput in the network.