Locally decodable codes: A brief survey

Abstract

Locally decodable codes are error correcting codes that simultaneously provide efficient random-access to encoded data and high noise resilience by allowing reliable reconstruction of an arbitrary data bit from looking at only a small number of randomly chosen codeword bits. Local decodability comes at the price of certain loss in terms of code efficiency. Specifically, locally decodable codes require longer codeword lengths than their classical counterparts. In this work we briefly survey the recent progress in constructions of locally decodable codes. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.