3 ms·
This leaves me with so many follow up questions: + Are there practical problems using this in the real world? + Are there implementations of fountain codes?
by amingilani 8y ago
This leaves me with so many follow up questions:
+ Are there practical problems using this in the real world?
+ Are there implementations of fountain codes?
+ Why haven't we replaced our traditional file transfer processes with fountain codes?
Could someone familiar with the topic please answer?
- KMag 8y agoAny time you have a high bandwidth delay product (or just high delay) in a network link, fountain codes are useful. Note they aren't useful on top of TCP. Some time in 2006-2010, while I was working on Google's web search infrqstructure, we switched to fountain codes for copying the index around the world. The downsides are increased CPU usage and poor cache locality. Naive implementations aren't compatible with streaming or otherwise starting to use/play data/content before transfer is complete. Without TCP, you'll probably need to implement TCP-friendly flow control.
- baruch 8y agoI've used it in a startup that did motivation data transfers and it was the only way around. It was and likely will is patented which makes it less attractive and the places where it is the only solution are niche.
- integricho 8y agoI believe RaptorQ is a known implementation, and afaik it's used in low bandwidth satellite communication where FEC is just too expensive (measuring it's bandwidth usage). While FEC is indeed configurable through the ratio for the number of normal / FEC packets, it can be still too expensive in some situations.