IST Lunch Bunch

Coding for nonvolatile memories will be an important development in data storage technologies. Currently, there has been lots of interest in coding for flash memories, and many results have been derived. In this talk, I will discuss new topics in coding theory for data storage in flash memories and related nonvolatile memories. Like magnetic recording and optical recording, flash memories have their own distinct properties, including recursive programming, block erasure, etc. These distinct properties introduce very interesting coding problems that address many aspects of a successful storage system, which include efficient data modification, error correction, high density storage, and more. I will introduce the challenges for flash memories and related nonvolatile memories, review the existing coding techniques, -- including codes for rewriting data, rank modulation, error correction, and variable-level cell -- and look forward to some potential approaches for the future.