ENEE 626:

ERROR CORRECTING CODES, CRYPTOGRAPHY, NETWORK CODING

Graduate course for 1st – 2nd year students in EE, CS, Applied Math
Course flyer

Instructor : Alexander Barg, Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering/Institute for Systems Research
Office: 2361 A.V.Williams Building Tel. (301) 405 7135 E-mail abarg at  umd  dot edu

Class times: Tuesday, Thursday 3:30-4:45pm EGR 1104
Instructor availability outside class hours: After class and by appointment
Homepage: http://www.ece.umd.edu/~abarg/626

Main topics:

• General properties of linear codes. Matrix description, error correction, minimum distance, syndrome decoding. Bounds on codes. Channel capacity.

• Finite fields. Reed Solomon codes and their decoding. List decoding algorithms (correct more errors than you can think of). Mathematics of the compact disk.

• Selected problems in cryptography: Secret sharing schemes, Wire-tap channel, Authentication codes, Fuzzy vault, Parent identifying codes (traitor tracing).

• Network coding as alternative to routing: Linear network codes and capacity of multicasting

Grading: several home assignments (10%), midterm (40%), final (50%) (take-home exams).
No required textbook.
Lecture notes: Part I Part II Part III
Reading for --RS codes for CD error correction | network coding : 1 2
                      --secret sharing schemes: Stinson'92 Massey'93 | wire-tap channel: Ozarow/Wyner Wei'91
Recommended book on cryptography applications:
D. R. Stinson, Cryptography: Theory and Practice, 3rd ed., Chapman and Hall, CRC Press, 2006

Home assignment 1
Home assignment 2
Home assignment 3
Midterm exam (due Oct. 28)
Final exam (due Dec. 17)

Prerequisites: Undergraduate linear algebra, probability
Not a prerequisite: Information theory (ENEE627), Digital communications (ENEE 623)