yeliqseu / sparsenc

A library for encoding and decoding sparse network codes

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Due to personal reasons, the source codes have been taken down from this public repository.

If you are interesed in using sparsenc, please send request to yeli[AT]ntu.edu.cn from an institutional email with your name.

Please note that public domain emails (such as qq.com, gmail.com, hotmail.com etc.) will NOT get a reply.

Introduction

This project provides a C implementation (and a Python wrapper) for encoding/recoding/decoding of network coding. Random linear network coding (RLNC) [1] and several of its sparse variants are implemented. The library supports three catagories of sparse network codes (SNC): random codes, band codes and BATS-like codes [2].

The following decoders are implemented:

• (sub)generation-by-(sub)generation (GG) decoder has a linear-time complexity but exhibits higher decoding-induced overhead.

• overlap-aware (OA) decoder has optimized code overhead but exhibits higher complexity.

• band (BD) and compact band (CBD) decoders that apply to band code only.

• PP(perpetual) decoder applies to decode the window-wrapped codes only.

The library had been used for performance evaluation and comparison when authoring the following papers. If you find the lib useful, please cite the papers when appropriate.

• Ye Li, J. Zhu and Z. Bao, "Sparse Random Linear Network Coding With Precoded Band Codes," in IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 480-483, March 2017.

• Ye Li, W.-Y. Chan, S. Blostein, "On Design and Efficient Decoding of Sparse Random Linear Network," in IEEE Access, 5: 17031~17044, 2017.

• Ye Li, S. Zhang, J. Wang, X. Ji, H. Wu and Z. Bao, "A Low-Complexity Coded Transmission Scheme over Finite-Buffer Relay Links," in IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 66, no. 7, pp. 2873 - 2887, July. 2018.

• Y. Li, J. Wang, S. Zhang, Z. Bao and J. Wang, "Efficient Coastal Communications with Sparse Network Coding," in IEEE Network, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 122-128, July/August 2018.

• Y. Li, J. Zhou, J. Wang, Z. Bao, T. Q. S. Quek and J. Wang, "On Data Dissemination Enhanced by Network Coded Device-to-Device Communications," in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 3963-3976, June 2020, doi: 10.1109/TWC.2020.2979145.

• Y. Li, B. Tang, J. Wang and Z. Bao, "On Multi-Hop Short-Packet Communications: Recoding or End-to-End Fountain Coding?," in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 69, no. 8, pp. 9229-9233, Aug. 2020, doi: 10.1109/TVT.2020.3005409.

Limitation

The library only supports coding against a given block of source packets, i.e., a generation of packets as termed in the network coding literature. Sliding-window mode is not supported.

A sliding-window implementation, also known as streaming coding, is available as a separate project at: https://github.com/yeliqseu/streamc, which implementes coding schemes proposed in

• M. Karzand, D. J. Leith, J. Cloud and M. Medard, "Design of FEC for Low Delay in 5G," in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 35, no. 8, pp. 1783-1793, Aug. 2017.
• Y. Li, F. Zhang, J. Wang, T. Q. S. Quek and J. Wang, "On Streaming Coding for Low-Latency Packet Transmissions over Highly Lossy Links," in IEEE Communications Letters, 2020 (Early Access: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9075270).

Other References

[1] T. Ho, M. Medard, R. Koetter, and D. R. Karger, "A Random Linear Network Coding Approach to Multicast", in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol 52, No. 10, pp. 4413-4430, 2006.

[2] S. Yang and R. W. Yeung, "Batched Sparse Codes," in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 60, no. 9, pp. 5322-5346, Sept. 2014.

sparsenc's Issues

Parameters for RLNC

I am trying to run test.RLNC.c with the parameters .\sncRLNC 1000 10 0
But I am getting this error.
pack_bits_in_byte_array(): reaching boundary.
Error: accessing unauthorized memeory area.

Is it related to any makefile error for including test.RLNC.c
Please guide in this regard.

Perpetual Encoder and Recoder

Can anyone please let me know where can I find the C code for Perpetual Encoder and Recoder as I couldn't find it in this repository.

Error while implementing PP

I have created all the binary files. I am trying to run the PP by using ./sncDecoders WINDWRAP PP 10 3 1 0 0 1 2 1 through command window. While running it is giving an error like WARNING: PP decoder only applies to perpetual codes.
I have used WINDWRAP as code type still it is giving this error.
Please guide how to run PP.