Method for increasing multicast throughput in a single-hop multi-channel wireless network

A single-hop, multi-channel wireless network comprising:

• a plurality of half-duplex nodes all positioned within communication range of each other, wherein the nodes are positioned and connected such that they can simultaneously receive multicast sessions on multiple channels, and wherein the nodes cannot simultaneously transmit on multiple channels;
• a processor operatively coupled to the nodes and configured to establish a linearly programmed rapid-throughput transmission schedule for data transmissions between the half-duplex nodes such that all data transmissions between the nodes are conducted according to the transmission schedule;
• and
• wherein each node is configured to reconstruct data transmitted in a particular multicast session by performing erasure coding in instances where the entirety of the particular multicast session is not received at a given node because the given node was transmitting during the particular multicast session,
• wherein the transmission schedule allows different multicast sessions originating from different nodes to overlap in time, and wherein the transmission schedule allows any transmitting node to send crt bits of data in a multicast session k, where c is a number of bits per second received at a receiving node, t is a time required to transmit the crt bits of data in seconds that is greater than 0, and r is a variable that is greater than 0 and less than 1, and wherein the crt bits of data are encoded via erasure coding such that a receiving node need only receive rt seconds worth of the multicast session k to recover the entire crt bits of data.