Abstract: The issue of repairing linear codes, especially Reed-Solomon (RS) codes, has gained significant attention due to its crucial role in distributed storage systems. In this scenario, a failed code symbol (node) must be restored with the least amount of information downloaded from a subset of remaining nodes. While some RS codes possess efficient repair schemes—some even being optimal—these approaches have limitations. For instance, they demand a high degree of field extension and are not applicable over prime fields. In this talk, we delve into the capabilities of nonlinear repair schemes for RS codes. We demonstrate that these nonlinear approaches are essential when operating over prime fields and, in certain situations, surpass the performance of all existing linear schemes.
Based on joint work with Roni Con.
Bio: Itzhak Tamo received a B.A. in Mathematics and a B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, in 2008 and 2012, respectively. From 2012 to 2014, he served as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Institute for Systems Research at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. Since 2015, he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering at Tel Aviv University, Israel, where he currently holds the position of Associate Professor.
His research interests include storage systems and devices, coding, information theory, and combinatorics. He has received several awards, including the IEEE Communication Society Data Storage Technical Committee 2013 Best Paper Award, the 2015 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award, and the Krill Prize in 2018.