Evolutionary Theory for Cluster Head Election in Cooperative Clusters Implementing Network Coding

In this paper a cluster head election problem is studied for a cooperative wireless network. The nodes in the cluster use random linear network coding to enhance the throughput performance in spreading the data for a file download service. Some of the nodes in the cluster will access through their cellular link parts of a file to be exchanged among all the cooperative nodes. In such a wireless environment, network coding enhances significantly the throughput performance. A good choice of the nodes acting as information sources for the cluster depends on their position and cellular link throughput and turns to be of utmost importance for the achievement of high performance levels.