Network coding: An overview

In recent years, network coding has generated much interest in information theory, coding theory, networking, wireless communications, cryptography, and computer science. Consider a point-to-point communication network on which a number of information sources are to be mulitcast to certain sets of destination nodes. The problem is to characterize the maximum possible throughputs. Contrary to one´s intuition, network coding theory reveals that it is in general not optimal to regard the information to be multicast as a “fluid” that can simply be routed or replicated. Rather, by employing coding at the nodes, bandwidth can in general be saved. In this talk, we will give an overview of the recent developments in the field and discuss how they can eventually lead to a new information infrastructure.