Probability of Partially Decoding Network-Coded Messages

Abstract

In the literature, there exist analytical expressions for the probability of a receiver decoding a transmitted source message that has been encoded using random linear network coding. In this letter, we look into the probability that the receiver will decode at least a fraction of the source message, and present an exact solution to this problem for both non-systematic and systematic network coding. Based on the derived expressions, we investigate the potential of these two implementations of network coding for information-theoretic secure communication and progressive recovery of data.