Institute of Network Coding The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Institute of Network CodingInstitute of Network CodingThe Chinese University of Hong Kong

A Network Coding Example

The Butterfly Network

b1b2

b1b2b1b2

b1

b1 b2

b1 b2

b1

b1

b2

b2b1+b2

b1+b2b1+b2

b1 b2

A Network Coding Example

with Two Sources

b2b1

b1

b2b1

b1 b2

b2b1

b1 b2

b2b1

b1+b2

b1+b2

b1+b2

b1 b2

b2b1

Satellite/Wireless Application

Satellite/Wireless ApplicationA

Satellite/Wireless ApplicationA

A

Satellite/Wireless ApplicationA

A

B

Satellite/Wireless ApplicationA

B

A

B

Satellite/Wireless ApplicationA

B

A

B

Satellite/Wireless ApplicationA

B

A

BA

Satellite/Wireless ApplicationA

B

A

BA B

Satellite/Wireless ApplicationA

B

A

BA

A+B

B

Satellite/Wireless Application

• Implementation on 802.11 at MAC layer (COPE) by MIT (2006)

• NASA project proposal (2008)• Proof of concept on a real satellite network by

German Aerospace Center (DLR, 2010) • Demos by Aalborg U available at youtube:

“network coding”

Two Themes of Network Coding

• When there is 1 source to be multicast in a network, store-and-forward may fail to optimize bandwidth

• When there are 2 or more independent sources to be transmitted in a network (even for unicast), store-and-forward may fail to optimize bandwidth

Publications & Conferences

• ~ 2,700 citations (Google Scholar)• ~ 1,000 citations for past 12 months• 4 books• 8 special journal issues related to NC• 7 journal & conference paper awards • 2 annual conferences: NetCod (since 2005), WiNC

(since 2008)

Information Information theorytheory

Computer Computer networksnetworks

SwitchingSwitchingtheorytheory

Wireless Wireless networksnetworks

ChannelChannelcodingcoding

ComputerComputersciencescience

CryptographyCryptography

OptimizationOptimizationtheorytheory

Quantum Quantum information information

theorytheory

GrapGraphh

theortheoryy

Game Game theorytheory

Matroid Matroid theorytheory Data Data

storagestorage

Major Research Projects

• USA: IT-MANET, CB-MANET (DARPA)• Europe: N-CRAVE (European Commission)• Hong Kong: Institute of Network Coding (HK

Government)

Background of INC

• Established in 2010• Funded by University Grants Committee,

HKSAR under the 5th Round Area of Excellence Scheme

• Funding Period: 2010 − 2017• Total Budget: ~ 9m Euro• The largest engineering research project ever

funded in Hong Kong

Mission

• To make HK a major long-term contributor in the field

• To train top-quality PhDs and postdocs• To collaborate with industry to develop NC

applications• To discover through NC new directions in

mathematics• To help HK become an international research

center

Management

• Co-Directors

• General ManagerBob Li Raymond Yeung

Alfred Ho

Co-Investigators

• 15 local academic members• 5 non-local academic members (Mainland,

Taiwan, USA)• 3 industrial members (Cisco, Microsoft,

Qualcomm)

Research Staff

• 1 Research Fellow• 5 Postdocs in CUHK and 4 Postdocs in other

local universities• Many educated at top schools in US and China

(MIT, Berkeley, Columbia, USC, USTC, BUPT, CUHK)

Joint Postdoc Program

• Between CUHK (INC) and Princeton (Communications Group, EE)

• Joint appointments between the two institutes

• Start in 2011

Major Events in 2010/11

• Broadcast Channel Summit (Mar 8-11, 2010)– A mini-workshop in which top experts discussed

research directions in this classical problem in multiuser information theory

• Distinguished Lectures– Prof. Frank Kelly, Cambridge U (Feb 8, 2010)– Dr. Fred Baker, Cisco (Nov 16, 2010)– Prof. Venkat Anantharam (Feb 23, 2011)

INC Visitors and Seminars

• Hosted 22 seminars given by visitors in 2010.• Videos of most seminars available online.• A number of visitors spend sabbatical leave in

INC (Waterloo, Northwestern, UC Berkeley, Tokyo Inst. of Tech., etc).

Current Projects• Network Coding File System

– first NC-based data storage prototype– hold the First Workshop on NC and Data Storage in HK (Jul

21-22, 2011)• Physical-Layer Network Coding

– first realization on software radio (USRP)• Wireless Network Coding Applications

– a demo of NC protocol on iPhones• BATched Sparse Code (BATS Code)

– generalization of fountain code– used in conjunction with network coding– Can out perform fountain code in a multihop network

Industrial Collaborations

• Cisco• Microsoft Research• Qualcomm

Resources

• The INC homepagehttp://www.inc.cuhk.edu.hk• INC Seminars http://www.inc.cuhk.edu.hk/seminar.html