A First Course to Network Coding

right|200px|Network coding example. Network coding is a rising paradigm for data transportation. It brings light to a prior dark area: that a node within a network can process information passing through it to make better use of the transmission capacity. This is a textbook aiming to introduce network coding to people with limited background in mathematics and/or engineering. The study of network coding interacts with various fields in engineering, mathematics, physics, even biology.R.W. Yeung, "Network coding: A historical perspective," Proc. IEEE, vol. 99, no. 3, p. 366, Mar. 2011. For readers to form a rigorous understanding of network coding, relevant knowledge in mathematics, information theory, engineering etc. is integrated in this book. Table of Contents Preface /How to Use this Book/ Background Knowledge /Probability: Concepts and Useful Equations/ Chapters /Communication Model and Network Concepts/ This chapter gives the audience a general impression of a Shannon-Weaver communication model and a traditional network. /An Introduction to Network Coding/ This chapter aims to introduce the general idea of network coding via butterfly network, and demonstrate its superiority. /Information Measure and Handy Inequations/ This chapter introduces how to measure information, i.e. the concept of entropy and mutual information. /Max-flow Bound/ This chapter focus on how to measure the performance of a network that implements coding. /Linear Network Coding: Acyclic/ This chapter introduces the most well-known and well-established model of coding network: linear, acyclic with a single source. /A Brief Review of Probability/ Further Reading Suggestions Network Coding and Cyber Security Network Coding in Physical Layer References Computer programming 25% __NOTOC__