Abstract
Rank-metric codes are codes consisting of matrices with entries in a finite field, with the distance between two matrices being the rank of their difference. Codes with maximum size for a fixed minimum distance are called Maximum Rank Distance (MRD) codes. Such codes were constructed and studied independently by Delsarte (1978), Gabidulin (1985), Roth (1991), and Cooperstein (1998). Rank-metric codes have seen renewed interest in recent years due to their applications in random linear network coding. MRD codes also have interesting connections to other topics such as semifields (finite nonassociative division algebras), finite geometry, linearized polynomials, and cryptography. In this chapter, we will survey the known constructions and applications of MRD codes, and present some open problems.
