Explicit constructions of MDS array codes and RS codes with optimal repair bandwidth

Abstract

Given any r and n, we present an explicit construction of high-rate maximum distance separable (MDS) array codes that can optimally repair any d failed nodes from any h helper nodes for all h, 1 ≤ h ≤ r and d, k ≤ d ≤ n - h simultaneously. These codes can be constructed over any base field F as long as |F| ≥ sn; where s = lcm(1, 2,..., r). The encoding, decoding, repair of failed nodes, and update procedures of these codes all have low complexity. Our results present a significant improvement over earlier results which can only construct explicit codes for the case of at most 3 parity nodes, and these existing constructions can only optimally repair a single node failure by accessing all the surviving nodes. In the second part of the paper we give an explicit construction of Reed-Solomon codes with asymptotically optimal repair bandwidth.