Locally Recoverable Codes From Algebraic Curves

Abstract

Locally recoverable (LRC) codes have the property that erased coordinates can be recovered by retrieving a small amount of the information contained in the entire codeword. An LRC code achieves this by making each coordinate a function of a small number of other coordinates. Since some algebraic constructions of LRC codes require that $n \leq q$, where $n$ is the length and $q$ is the size of the field, it is natural to ask whether we can generate codes over a small field from a code over an extension. Trace codes achieve this by taking the field trace of every coordinate of a code. In this thesis, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for when the local recoverability property is retained when taking the trace of certain LRC codes.

This thesis also explores a subfamily of LRC codes with hierarchical locality (H-LRC) which have tiers of recoverability. We provide a general construction of codes with 2 levels of hierarchy from maps between algebraic curves and present several families from quotients of curves by a subgroup of automorphisms. We consider specific examples from rational, elliptic, Kummer, and Artin-Schrier curves and examples of asymptotically good families of H-LRC codes from curves related to the Garcia-Stichtenoth tower.