Vector Network Coding Based on Subspace Codes Outperforms Scalar Linear Network Coding

This paper considers vector network coding solutions based on rank-metric codes and subspace codes. The main result of this paper is that vector solutions can significantly reduce the required alphabet size compared to the optimal scalar linear solution for the same multicast network. The multicast...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on information theory Vol. 64; no. 4; pp. 2460 - 2473
Main Authors: Etzion, Tuvi, Wachter-Zeh, Antonia
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York IEEE 01.04.2018
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subjects:
Alphabet size
Coding
combination networks
Computer science
Electronic mail
Encoding
Europe
Messages
Multicast
multicast networks
Network coding
Networks
rank-metric codes
Receivers
Routing
scalar network coding
subspace codes
Subspaces
vector network coding
ISSN:0018-9448, 1557-9654
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This paper considers vector network coding solutions based on rank-metric codes and subspace codes. The main result of this paper is that vector solutions can significantly reduce the required alphabet size compared to the optimal scalar linear solution for the same multicast network. The multicast networks considered in this paper have one source with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">h </tex-math></inline-formula> messages, and the vector solution is over a field of size <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">q </tex-math></inline-formula> with vectors of length <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">t </tex-math></inline-formula>. For a given network, let the smallest field size for which the network has a scalar linear solution be <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">q_{s} </tex-math></inline-formula>, then the gap in the alphabet size between the vector solution and the scalar linear solution is defined to be <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">q_{s}-q^{t} </tex-math></inline-formula>. In this contribution, the achieved gap is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">q^{(h-2)t^{2}/h + o(t)} </tex-math></inline-formula> for any <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">q \geq 2 </tex-math></inline-formula> and any even <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">h \geq 4 </tex-math></inline-formula>. If <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">h \geq 5 </tex-math></inline-formula> is odd, then the achieved gap of the alphabet size is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">q^{(h-3)t^{2}/(h-1) + o(t)} </tex-math></inline-formula>. Previously, only a gap of size one had been shown for networks with a very large number of messages. These results imply the same gap of the alphabet size between the optimal scalar linear and some scalar nonlinear network coding solution for multicast networks. For three messages, we also show an advantage of vector network coding, while for two messages the problem remains open. Several networks are considered, all of them are generalizations and modifications of the well-known combination networks. The vector network codes that are used as solutions for those networks are based on subspace codes, particularly subspace codes obtained from rank-metric codes. Some of these codes form a new family of subspace codes, which poses a new research problem.
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ISSN:0018-9448
1557-9654
DOI:10.1109/TIT.2018.2797183