In this work, we present a new simple way to encode/decode messages transmitted via a noisy channel and protected against errors by the Hamming method. We also propose a fast and efficient algorithm for the encoding and the decoding process which do not use neither the generator matrix nor the parity-check matrix of the Hamming code.
In this note we try to bring out the ideas of Hamming's classic paper on coding theory in a form understandable by undergraduate students of mathematics.
Random input/output (RIO) code is a coding scheme that enables reading of one logical page using a single read threshold in multilevel flash memory. The construction of RIO codes is equivalent to the construction of WOM codes. Parallel RIO (P-RIO) code is an RIO code that encodes all pages in parallel. In this paper, we utilize coset coding with Hamming codes in order to construct P-RIO codes. Coset coding is a technique that constructs WOM codes using linear binary codes. We leverage the information on the data of all pages to encode each page. Our constructed codes store more pages than RIO …
Rank weights and generalized rank weights have been proven to characterize error and erasure correction, and information leakage in linear network coding, in the same way as Hamming weights and generalized Hamming weights describe classical error and erasure correction, and information leakage in wire-tap channels of type II and code-based secret sharing. Although many similarities between both cases have been established and proven in the literature, many other known results in the Hamming case, such as bounds or characterizations of weight-preserving maps, have not been translated to the ran…
This paper revisits the ordered statistics decoding (OSD). It provides a comprehensive analysis of the OSD algorithm by characterizing the statistical properties, evolution and the distribution of the Hamming distance and weighted Hamming distance from codeword estimates to the received sequence in the reprocessing stages of the OSD algorithm. We prove that the Hamming distance and weighted Hamming distance distributions can be characterized as mixture models capturing the decoding error probability and code weight enumerator. Simulation and numerical results show that our proposed statistical…
A new protograph-based framework for message passing (MP) decoding of low density parity-check (LDPC) codes with Hamming weight amplifiers (HWAs), which are used e.g. in the NIST post-quantum crypto candidate LEDAcrypt, is proposed. The scheme exploits the correlations in the error patterns introduced by the HWA using a turbo-like decoding approach where messages between the decoders for the outer code given by the HWA and the inner LDPC code are exchanged. Decoding thresholds for the proposed scheme are computed using density evolution (DE) analysis for belief propagation (BP) and ternary mes…
We consider Slepian-Wolf (SW) coding of multiple sources and extend the packing bound and the notion of perfect code from conventional channel coding to SW coding with more than two sources. We then introduce Hamming Codes for Multiple Sources (HCMSs) as a potential solution of perfect SW coding for arbitrary number of terminals. Moreover, we study the case with three sources in detail. We present the necessary conditions of a perfect SW code and show that there exists infinite number of HCMSs. Moreover, we show that for a perfect SW code with sufficiently long code length, the compression rat…
In this paper, we study the hardness of decoding a random code endowed with the cover metric. As the cover metric lies in between the Hamming and rank metric, it presents itself as a promising candidate for code-based cryptography. We give a polynomial-time reduction from the classical Hamming-metric decoding problem, which proves the NP-hardness of the decoding problem in the cover metric. We then provide a generic decoder, following the information set decoding idea from Prange's algorithm in the Hamming metric. A study of its cost then shows that the complexity is exponential in the number …
This paper presents a new decoding for polynomial residue codes, called the minimum degree-weighted distance decoding. The newly proposed decoding is based on the degree-weighted distance and different from the traditional minimum Hamming distance decoding. It is shown that for the two types of minimum distance decoders, i.e., the minimum degree-weighted distance decoding and the minimum Hamming distance decoding, one is not absolutely stronger than the other, but they can complement each other from different points of view.
In this paper, we use linear codes to study zero-error Slepian-Wolf coding of a set of sources with deviation symmetry, where the sources are generalization of the Hamming sources over an arbitrary field. We extend our previous codes, Generalized Hamming Codes for Multiple Sources, to Matrix Partition Codes and use the latter to efficiently compress the target sources. We further show that every perfect or linear-optimal code is a Matrix Partition Code. We also present some conditions when Matrix Partition Codes are perfect and/or linear-optimal. Detail discussions of Matrix Partition Codes on…
The use of skew polynomial rings allows to endow linear codes with cyclic structures which are not cyclic in the classical (commutative) sense. Whenever these skew cyclic structures are carefully chosen, some control over the Hamming distance is gained, and it is possible to design efficient decoding algorithms. In this paper, we give a version of the Hartmann-Tzeng bound that works for a wide class of skew cyclic codes. We also provide a practical method for constructing them with designed distance. For skew BCH codes, which are covered by our constructions, we discuss decoding algorithms. De…
Recently there has been interest in the construction of small parity check sets for iterative decoding of the Hamming code with the property that each uncorrectable (or stopping) set of size three is the support of a codeword and hence uncorrectable anyway. Here we reformulate and generalise the problem, and improve on this construction. First we show that a parity check collection that corrects all correctable erasure patterns of size m for the r-th order Hamming code (i.e, the Hamming code with codimension r) provides for all codes of codimension $r$ a corresponding ``generic'' parity check …
Error control is significant to network coding, since when unchecked, errors greatly deteriorate the throughput gains of network coding and seriously undermine both reliability and security of data. Two families of codes, subspace and rank metric codes, have been used to provide error control for random linear network coding. In this paper, we enhance the error correction capability of these two families of codes by using a novel two-tier decoding scheme. While the decoding of subspace and rank metric codes serves a second-tier decoding, we propose to perform a first-tier decoding on the packe…
Polar code, with explicit construction and recursive structure, is the latest breakthrough in channel coding field for its low-complexity and theoretically capacity-achieving property. Since polar codes can approach the maximum likelihood performance under successive cancellation list decoding (SCLD), its decoding performance can be evaluated by Bonferroni-type bounds (e.g., union bound) in which the Hamming weight spectrum will be used. Especially, the polar codewords with minimum Hamming weight (PC-MHW) are the most important item in that bound because they make major contributions to the de…
We propose the first non-trivial generic decoding algorithm for codes in the sum-rank metric. The new method combines ideas of well-known generic decoders in the Hamming and rank metric. For the same code parameters and number of errors, the new generic decoder has a larger expected complexity than the known generic decoders for the Hamming metric and smaller than the known rank-metric decoders. Furthermore, we give a formal hardness reduction, providing evidence that generic sum-rank decoding is computationally hard. As a by-product of the above, we solve some fundamental coding problems in t…
Generalized Tanner graphs have been implicitly studied by a number of authors under the rubric of generalized parity-check matrices. This work considers the conditioning of binary hidden variables in such models in order to break all cycles and thus derive optimal soft-in soft-out (SISO) decoding algorithms. Conditionally cycle-free generalized Tanner graphs are shown to imply optimal SISO decoding algorithms for the first order Reed-Muller codes and their duals - the extended Hamming codes - which are substantially less complex than conventional bit-level trellis decoding. The study of low-co…
The generalized Hamming weight (GHW) $d_r(C)$ of linear codes $C$ is a natural generalization of the minimum Hamming distance $d(C)(=d_1(C))$ and has become one of important research objects in coding theory since Wei's originary work [23] in 1991. In this paper two general formulas on $d_r(C)$ for irreducible cyclic codes are presented by using Gauss sums and the weight hierarchy $\{d_1(C), d_2(C), \ldots, d_k(C)\}$ $(k=\dim C)$ are completely determined for several cases.
Consider the problem of packing Hamming balls of a given relative radius subject to the constraint that they cover any point of the ambient Hamming space with multiplicity at most $L$. For odd $L\ge 3$ an asymptotic upper bound on the rate of any such packing is proven. Resulting bound improves the best known bound (due to Blinovsky'1986) for rates below a certain threshold. Method is a superposition of the linear-programming idea of Ashikhmin, Barg and Litsyn (that was used previously to improve the estimates of Blinovsky for $L=2$) and a Ramsey-theoretic technique of Blinovsky. As an applica…
Information set decoding (ISD) algorithms are the best known procedures to solve the decoding problem for general linear codes. These algorithms are hence used for codes without a visible structure, or for which efficient decoders exploiting the code structure are not known. Classically, ISD algorithms have been studied for codes in the Hamming metric. In this paper we switch from the Hamming metric to the Lee metric, and study ISD algorithms and their complexity for codes measured with the Lee metric over finite rings.
In this paper, we investigate the joint design of channel and network coding in bi-directional relaying systems and propose a combined low complexity physical network coding and LDPC decoding scheme. For the same LDPC codes employed at both source nodes, we show that the relay can decodes the network coded codewords from the superimposed signal received from the BPSK-modulated multiple-access channel. Simulation results shown that this novel joint physical network coding and LDPC decoding method outperforms the existing MMSE network coding and LDPC decoding method over AWGN and complex MAC cha…
Practical random network coding based schemes for multicast include a header in each packet that records the transformation between the sources and the terminal. The header introduces an overhead that can be significant in certain scenarios. In previous work, parity check matrices of error control codes along with error decoding were used to reduce this overhead. In this work we propose novel packet formats that allow us to use erasure decoding and list decoding. Both schemes have a smaller overhead compared to the error decoding based scheme, when the number of sources combined in a packet is…
Existing polar coding schemes for the two-user interference channel follow the original idea of Han and Kobayashi, in which component messages are encoded independently and then mapped by some deterministic functions (i.e., homogeneous superposition coding). In this paper, we propose a new polar coding scheme for the interference channel based on the heterogeneous superposition coding approach of Chong, Motani and Garg. We prove that fully-joint decoding (the receivers simultaneously decode both senders' common messages and the intended sender's private message) in the Han-Kobayashi strategy c…
The problem of source coding with side information (SCSI) is closely related to channel coding. Therefore, existing literature focuses on using the most successful channel codes namely, LDPC codes, turbo codes, and their variants, to solve this problem assuming classical unique decoding of the underlying channel code. In this paper, in contrast to classical decoding, we have taken the list decoding approach. We show that syndrome source coding using list decoding can achieve the theoretical limit. We argue that, as opposed to channel coding, the correct sequence from the list produced by the l…
The Lee metric syndrome decoding problem is an NP-hard problem and several generic decoders have been proposed. The observation that such decoders come with a larger cost than their Hamming metric counterparts make the Lee metric a promising alternative for classical code-based cryptography. Unlike in the Hamming metric, an error vector that is chosen uniform at random of a given Lee weight is expected to have only few entries with large Lee weight. Using this expected distribution of entries, we are able to drastically decrease the cost of generic decoders in the Lee metric, by reducing the o…
This paper studies multiuser random coding techniques for channel coding with a given (possibly suboptimal) decoding rule. For the mismatched discrete memoryless multiple-access channel, an error exponent is obtained that is tight with respect to the ensemble average, and positive within the interior of Lapidoth's achievable rate region. This exponent proves the ensemble tightness of the exponent of Liu and Hughes in the case of maximum-likelihood decoding. An equivalent dual form of Lapidoth's achievable rate region is given, and the latter is shown to extend immediately to channels with infi…
This paper presents a stochastic algorithm for iterative error control decoding. We show that the stochastic decoding algorithm is an approximation of the sum-product algorithm. When the code's factor graph is a tree, as with trellises, the algorithm approaches maximum a-posteriori decoding. We also demonstrate a stochastic approximations to the alternative update rule known as successive relaxation. Stochastic decoders have very simple digital implementations which have almost no RAM requirements. We present example stochastic decoders for a trellis-based Hamming code, and for a Block Turbo c…
We consider ensembles of channel codes that are partitioned into bins, and focus on analysis of exact random coding error exponents associated with optimum decoding of the index of the bin to which the transmitted codeword belongs. Two main conclusions arise from this analysis: (i) for independent random selection of codewords within a given type class, the random coding exponent of optimal bin index decoding is given by the ordinary random coding exponent function, computed at the rate of the entire code, independently of the exponential rate of the size of the bin. (ii) for this ensemble of …
In this paper we introduce the class of Spread Codes for the use in random network coding. Spread Codes are based on the construction of spreads in finite projective geometry. The major contribution of the paper is an efficient decoding algorithm of spread codes up to half the minimum distance.
Sparse Network Coding (SNC) has been a promising network coding scheme as an improvement for Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) in terms of the computational complexity. However, in this literature, there has been no analytical expressions for the probability of decoding a fraction of source messages after transmission of some coded packets. In this work, we looked into the problem of the probability of decoding a fraction of source messages, i.e., partial decoding, in the decoder for a system which uses SNC. We exploited the Principle of Inclusion and Exclusion to derive expressions of parti…
In this paper we study the hardness of the syndrome decoding problem over finite rings endowed with the Lee metric. We first prove that the decisional version of the problem is NP-complete, by a reduction from the $3$-dimensional matching problem. Then, we study the complexity of solving the problem, by translating the best known solvers in the Hamming metric over finite fields to the Lee metric over finite rings, as well as proposing some novel solutions. For the analyzed algorithms, we assess the computational complexity in the asymptotic regime and compare it to the corresponding algorithms…
The unit-derived method in coding theory is shown to be a unique optimal scheme for constructing and analysing codes. In many cases efficient and practical decoding methods are produced. Codes with efficient decoding algorithms at maximal distances possible are derived from unit schemes. In particular unit-derived codes from Vandermonde or Fourier matrices are particularly commendable giving rise to mds codes of varying rates with practical and efficient decoding algorithms. For a given rate and given error correction capability, explicit codes with efficient error correcting algorithms are de…
We present an algorithm that, given a channel, determines if there is a distance for it such that the maximum likelihood decoder coincides with the minimum distance decoder. We also show that any metric, up to a decoding equivalence, can be isometrically embedded into the hypercube with the Hamming metric, and thus, in terms of decoding, the Hamming metric is universal.
Here we write in a unified fashion (using "R(P, Q, D)") the random coding exponents in channel coding and lossy source coding. We derive their explicit forms and show, that, for a given random codebook distribution Q, the channel decoding error exponent can be viewed as an encoding success exponent in lossy source coding, and the channel correct-decoding exponent can be viewed as an encoding failure exponent in lossy source coding. We then extend the channel exponents to arbitrary D, which corresponds for D > 0 to erasure decoding and for D < 0 to list decoding. For comparison, we also derive …
We consider a setting of Slepian--Wolf coding, where the random bin of the source vector undergoes channel coding, and then decoded at the receiver, based on additional side information, correlated to the source. For a given distribution of the randomly selected channel codewords, we propose a universal decoder that depends on the statistics of neither the correlated sources nor the channel, assuming first that they are both memoryless. Exact analysis of the random-binning/random-coding error exponent of this universal decoder shows that it is the same as the one achieved by the optimal maximu…
This is a tale of two linear programming decoders, namely channel coding linear programming decoding (CC-LPD) and compressed sensing linear programming decoding (CS-LPD). So far, they have evolved quite independently. The aim of the present paper is to show that there is a tight connection between, on the one hand, CS-LPD based on a zero-one measurement matrix over the reals and, on the other hand, CC-LPD of the binary linear code that is obtained by viewing this measurement matrix as a binary parity-check matrix. This connection allows one to translate performance guarantees from one setup to…
We investigate joint network and channel coding schemes for networks when relay nodes are not capable of performing channel coding operations. Rather, channel encoding is performed at the source node while channel decoding is done only at the destination nodes. We examine three different decoding strategies: independent network-then-channel decoding, serial network and channel decoding, and joint network and channel decoding. Furthermore, we describe how to implement such joint network and channel decoding using iteratively decodable error correction codes. Using simple networks as a model, we…
Network coding is a highly efficient data dissemination mechanism for wireless networks. Since network coded information can only be recovered after delivering a sufficient number of coded packets, the resulting decoding delay can become problematic for delay-sensitive applications such as real-time media streaming. Motivated by this observation, we consider several algorithms that minimize the decoding delay and analyze their performance by means of simulation. The algorithms differ both in the required information about the state of the neighbors' buffers and in the way this knowledge is use…
We propose an algorithm using the Gaussian elimination method to find the minimal Hamming distance and decode received messages of linear codes. This algorithm is easy to implement as it requires no Gröbner bases to compute solutions for systems of polynomial equations
This paper proposes a low decoding complexity, full-diversity and full-rate space-time block code (STBC) for 4 transmit and 2 receive ($4\times 2$) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. For such systems, the best code known is the DjABBA code and recently, Biglieri, Hong and Viterbo have proposed another STBC (BHV code) which has lower decoding complexity than DjABBA but does not have full-diversity like the DjABBA code. The code proposed in this paper has the same decoding complexity as the BHV code for square QAM constellations but has full-diversity as well. Compared to the best co…
In this work we explore possibilities for coding and decoding tailor-made for mean squared error evaluation of error in contexts such as image transmission. To do so, we introduce a loss function that expresses the overall performance of a coding and decoding scheme for discrete channels and that exchanges the usual goal of minimizing the error probability to that of minimizing the expected loss. In this environment we explore the possibilities of using ordered decoders to create a message-wise unequal error protection (UEP), where the most valuable information is protected by placing in its p…
Due to the wide applications in consumer electronics, data storage systems and communication systems, cyclic codes have been an interesting research topic in coding theory. In this paper, let $p$ be a prime with $p\ge 7$. We determine the weight distributions of all cyclic codes of length $5$ over $\f_q$ and the Hamming distances of all repeated-root cyclic codes of length $5p^s$ over $\F_q$, where $q=p^m$ and both $s$ and $m$ are positive integers. Furthermore, we find all MDS cyclic codes of length $5p^s$ and take quantum synchronizable codes from repeated-root cyclic codes of length $5p^s$.
This paper introduces a new counting code. Its design was motivated by distributed video coding where, for decoding, error correction methods are applied to improve predictions. Those error corrections sometimes fail which results in decoded values worse than the initial prediction. Our code exploits the fact that bit errors are relatively unlikely events: more than a few bit errors in a decoded pixel value are rare. With a carefully designed counting code combined with a prediction those bit errors can be corrected and sometimes the original pixel value recovered. The error correction improve…
A new lower bound on the minimum Hamming distance of linear quasi-cyclic codes over finite fields is proposed. It is based on spectral analysis and generalizes the Semenov- Trifonov bound in a similar way as the Hartmann-Tzeng bound extends the BCH approach for cyclic codes. Furthermore, a syndrome-based algebraic decoding algorithm is given.
This paper considers a multi-source multi-relay network, in which relay nodes employ a coding scheme based on random linear network coding on source packets and generate coded packets. If a destination node collects enough coded packets, it can recover the packets of all source nodes. The links between source-to-relay nodes and relay-to-destination nodes are modeled as packet erasure channels. Improved bounds on the probability of decoding failure are presented, which are markedly close to simulation results and notably better than previous bounds. Examples demonstrate the tightness and useful…
In this article we focus on the problem of channel decoding in presence of a-priori information. In particular, assuming that the a-priori information reliability is not perfectly estimated at the receiver, we derive a novel analytical framework for evaluating the decoder's performance. It is derived the important result that a "good code", i.e., a code which allows to fully exploit the potential benefit of a-priori information, must associate information sequences with high Hamming weights to codewords with low Hamming weights. Basing on the proposed analysis, we analyze the performance of co…
The complexity of maximal likelihood decoding of the Reed-Solomon codes $[q-1, k]_q$ is a well known open problem. The only known result in this direction states that it is at least as hard as the discrete logarithm in some cases where the information rate unfortunately goes to zero. In this paper, we remove the rate restriction and prove that the same complexity result holds for any positive information rate. In particular, this resolves an open problem left in [4], and rules out the possibility of a polynomial time algorithm for maximal likelihood decoding problem of Reed-Solomon codes of an…
Arıkan's polar coding, is by now a well studied technique that allows achieving the symmetric capacity of binary input memoryless channels with low complexity encoding and decoding, provided that the polar decoding architecture is used and the decoding metric is matched to the true channel. In this paper, we analyze communication rates that are achievable when the polar coding/decoding architecture is used with the decoder using an incorrect model of the channel. We define the `polar mismatched capacity' as an analogue of the classical mismatched capacity, give an expression for it, and derive…
We consider binary systematic network codes and investigate their capability of decoding a source message either in full or in part. We carry out a probability analysis, derive closed-form expressions for the decoding probability and show that systematic network coding outperforms conventional network coding. We also develop an algorithm based on Gaussian elimination that allows progressive decoding of source packets. Simulation results show that the proposed decoding algorithm can achieve the theoretical optimal performance. Furthermore, we demonstrate that systematic network codes equipped w…
Intra-session network coding has been shown to offer significant gains in terms of achievable throughput and delay in settings where one source multicasts data to several clients. In this paper, we consider a more general scenario where multiple sources transmit data to sets of clients and study the benefits of inter-session network coding, when network nodes have the opportunity to combine packets from different sources. In particular, we propose a novel framework for optimal rate allocation in inter-session network coding systems. We formulate the problem as the minimization of the average d…
Theoretical analysis has long indicated that feedback improves the error exponent but not the capacity of single-user memoryless channels. Recently Polyanskiy et al. studied the benefit of variable-length feedback with termination (VLFT) codes in the non-asymptotic regime. In that work, achievability is based on an infinite length random code and decoding is attempted at every symbol. The coding rate backoff from capacity due to channel dispersion is greatly reduced with feedback, allowing capacity to be approached with surprisingly small expected latency. This paper is mainly concerned with V…
In this work, we derive the random coding error exponent for the uplink phase of a two-way relay system where physical layer network coding (PNC) is employed. The error exponent is derived for the practical (yet sub-optimum) XOR channel decoding setting. We show that the random coding error exponent under optimum (i.e., maximum likelihood) PNC channel decoding can be achieved even under the sub-optimal XOR channel decoding. The derived achievability bounds provide us with valuable insight and can be used as a benchmark for the performance of practical channel-coded PNC systems employing low co…
In this paper, we propose a network coding (NC) based approach to ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) over erasure channels. In transmitting multiple data packets, we demonstrate that the use of random NC can improve the reliability in terms of decoding error probability, while it incurs a longer decoding delay than a well-known K-repetition. To avoid a long decoding delay, we consider a sliding NC (SNC) design that allows a highly reliable transmission of each data packet with a guaranteed decoding delay. A few design examples are derived and their decoding error rates are analyz…