Myths and realities of rateless coding

Fixed-rate and rateless channel codes are generally treated separately in the related research literature and so, a novice in the field inevitably gets the impression that these channel codes are unrelated. By contrast, in this treatise, we endeavor to further develop a link between the traditional fixed-rate codes and the recently developed rateless codes by delving into their underlying attributes. This joint treatment is beneficial for two principal reasons. First, it facilitates the task of researchers and practitioners, who might be familiar with fixed-rate codes and would like to jump-start their understanding of the recently developed concepts in the rateless reality. Second, it provides grounds for extending the use of the well-understood code-design tools - originally contrived for fixed-rate codes - to the realm of rateless codes. Indeed, these versatile tools proved to be vital in the design of diverse fixed-rate-coded communications systems, and thus our hope is that they will further elucidate the associated performance ramifications of the rateless coded schemes.