Thomas Westerbäck

Constructions and Properties of Linear Locally Repairable Codes

In this paper, locally repairable codes with all-symbol locality are studied. Methods to modify already existing codes are presented. It is also shown that, with high probability, a random matrix with a few extra columns guaranteeing the locality property is a generator matrix for a locally repairable code with a good minimum distance. The proof of the result provides a constructive method to find locally repairable codes. Finally, constructions of three infinite classes of optimal vector-linear locally repairable codes over a small alphabet independent of the code size are given.

On the Combinatorics of Locally Repairable Codes via Matroid Theory

This paper provides a link between matroid theory and locally repairable codes (LRCs) that are either linear or more generally almost affine. Using this link, new results on both LRCs and matroid theory are derived. The parameters (n, k, d, r, δ) of LRCs are generalized to matroids, and the matroid analog of the generalized singleton bound by Gopalan et al. for linear LRCs is given for matroids. It is shown that the given bound is not tight for certain classes of parameters, implying a nonexistence result for the corresponding locally repairable almost affine codes that are coined perfect in this paper. Constructions of classes of matroids with a large span of the parameters (n, k, d, r, δ) and the corresponding local repair sets are given. Using these matroid constructions, new LRCs are constructed with prescribed parameters. The existence results on linear LRCs and the nonexistence results on almost affine LRCs given in this paper strengthen the nonexistence and existence results on perfect linear LRCs given by Song et al.

Almost affine locally repairable codes and matroid theory

In this paper we provide a link between matroid theory and locally repairable codes (LRCs) that are almost affine. The parameters (n, k, d, r) of LRCs are generalized to matroids. A bound on the parameters (n, k, d, r), similar to the bound in [P. Gopalan et al., “On the locality of codeword symbols,” IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory] for linear LRCs, is given for matroids. We prove that the given bound is not tight for a certain class of parameters, which implies a non-existence result for a certain class of optimal locally repairable almost affine codes. Constructions of optimal LRCs over small finite fields were stated as an open problem in [I. Tamo et al., “Optimal locally repairable codes and connections to matroid theory”, 2013 IEEE ISIT]. In this paper optimal LRCs which do not require a large field are constructed for certain classes of parameters.

Applications of polymatroid theory to distributed storage systems

In this paper, a link between polymatroid theory and locally repairable codes (LRCs) is established. The codes considered here are completely general in that they are subsets of An, where A is an arbitrary finite set. Three classes of LRCs are considered, both with and without availability, and for both information-symbol and all-symbol locality. The parameters and classes of LRCs are generalized to polymatroids, and a generalized Singelton bound on the parameters for these three classes of polymatroids and LRCs is given. This result generalizes the earlier Singleton-type bounds given for LRCs. Codes achieving these bounds are coined perfect, as opposed to the more common term optimal used earlier, since they might not always exist. Finally, new constructions of perfect linear LRCs are derived from gammoids, which are a special class of matroids. Matroids, for their part, form a subclass of polymatroids and have proven useful in analyzing and constructing linear LRCs.

A connection between locally repairable codes and exact regenerating codes

Typically, locally repairable codes (LRCs) and regenerating codes have been studied independently of each other, and it has not been clear how the parameters of one relate to those of the other. In this paper, a novel connection between locally repairable codes and exact regenerating codes is established. Via this connection, locally repairable codes are interpreted as exact regenerating codes. Further, some of these codes are shown to perform better than time-sharing codes between minimum bandwidth regenerating and minimum storage regenerating codes.

Matroid Theory and Storage Codes: Bounds and Constructions

Recent research on distributed storage systems (DSSs) has revealed interesting connections between matroid theory and locally repairable codes (LRCs). The goal of this chapter is to introduce the reader to matroids and polymatroids, and illustrate their relation to distributed storage systems. While many of the results are rather technical in nature, effort is made to increase accessibility via simple examples. The chapter embeds all the essential features of LRCs, namely locality, availability, and hierarchy alongside with related generalised Singleton bounds.

Bounds on the maximal minimum distance of linear locally repairable codes

Locally repairable codes (LRCs) are error correcting codes used in distributed data storage. Besides a global level, they enable errors to be corrected locally, reducing the need for communication between storage nodes. There is a close connection between almost affine LRCs and matroid theory which can be utilized to construct good LRCs and derive bounds on their performance. A generalized Singleton bound for linear LRCs with parameters (n; k; d; r; δ) was given in [N. Prakash et al., “Optimal Linear Codes with a Local-Error-Correction Property”, IEEE Int. Symp. Inf. Theory]. In this paper, a LRC achieving this bound is called perfect. Results on the existence and nonexistence of linear perfect (n; k; d; r; δ)-LRCs were given in [W. Song et al., “Optimal locally repairable codes”, IEEE J. Sel. Areas Comm.]. Using matroid theory, these existence and nonexistence results were later strengthened in [T. Westerbäck et al., “On the Combinatorics of Locally Repairable Codes”, Arxiv: 1501.00153], which also provided a general lower bound on the maximal achievable minimum distance dmax (n; k; r; δ) that a linear LRC with parameters (n; k; r; δ) can have. This article expands the class of parameters (n; k; d; r; δ) for which there exist perfect linear LRCs and improves the lower bound for dmax (n; k; r; δ). Further, this bound is proved to be optimal for the class of matroids that is used to derive the existence bounds of linear LRCs.

On Binary Matroid Minors and Applications to Data Storage over Small Fields

Locally repairable codes for distributed storage systems have gained a lot of interest recently, and various constructions can be found in the literature. However, most of the constructions result in either large field sizes and hence too high computational complexity for practical implementation, or in low rates translating into waste of the available storage space.