A network node configured to communicate with other network nodes comprising: a receiver for receiving input packets; local node memory where one or more parameters for coding are stored; an encoder for creating coded packets from the input packets using one or more coefficients of a linear network coding, wherein each coefficient of the linear network coding is generated at the network node via a predetermined function of the one or more parameters that is locally selectable at the network node without coordination with the other network nodes; and a transmitter to transmit the coded packets, characterised in that: the network node is configured to generate the one or more parameters via the pre-determined function according to one of options A, B or C: A) the one or more parameters comprise a parameter α that is a member of a finite field F q, q being a field size of the finite field F q, and the pre-determined function is a function g 0, used by the encoder to generate an indexed sequence of coefficients C( i), such that for each integer i ≥ 0, C( i) = α i; B) the one or more parameters comprise a parameter α that is a member of the finite field F q, q being a field size of the finite field F q, and the pre-determined function is a function g 1, used by the encoder to generate an indexed sequence of coefficients C( i), such that for each integer i ≥ 1, C( i) = i ∗α[ q], [.] being the modulo operator; C) the one or more parameters comprise parameters α and κ that are members of the finite field F q, q being a field size of the finite field F q, and the pre-determined function is a function g 2, used by the encoder to generate an indexed sequence of coefficients C( i), such that for each integer i ≥ 1, C( i + 1) = (C( i) + κ)[q], [.] being the modulo operator, and C = α. a receiver for receiving input packets; local node memory where one or more parameters for coding are stored; an encoder for creating coded packets from the input packets using one or more coefficients of a linear network coding, wherein each coefficient of the linear network coding is generated at the network node via a predetermined function of the one or more parameters that is locally selectable at the network node without coordination with the other network nodes; and a transmitter to transmit the coded packets, characterised in that: the network node is configured to generate the one or more parameters via the pre-determined function according to one of options A, B or C: A) the one or more parameters comprise a parameter α that is a member of a finite field F q, q being a field size of the finite field F q, and the pre-determined function is a function g 0, used by the encoder to generate an indexed sequence of coefficients C( i), such that for each integer i ≥ 0, C( i) = α i; B) the one or more parameters comprise a parameter α that is a member of the finite field F q, q being a field size of the finite field F q, and the pre-determined function is a function g 1, used by the encoder to generate an indexed sequence of coefficients C( i), such that for each integer i ≥ 1, C( i) = i ∗α[ q], [.] being the modulo operator; C) the one or more parameters comprise parameters α and κ that are members of the finite field F q, q being a field size of the finite field F q, and the pre-determined function is a function g 2, used by the encoder to generate an indexed sequence of coefficients C( i), such that for each integer i ≥ 1, C( i + 1) = (C( i) + κ)[q], [.] being the modulo operator, and C = α. A) the one or more parameters comprise a parameter α that is a member of a finite field F q, q being a field size of the finite field F q, and the pre-determined function is a function g 0, used by the encoder to generate an indexed sequence of coefficients C( i), such that for each integer i ≥ 0, C( i) = α i; the pre-determined function is a function g 0, used by the encoder to generate an indexed sequence of coefficients C( i), such that for each integer i ≥ 0, C( i) = α i; B) the one or more parameters comprise a parameter α that is a member of the finite field F q, q being a field size of the finite field F q, and the pre-determined function is a function g 1, used by the encoder to generate an indexed sequence of coefficients C( i), such that for each integer i ≥ 1, C( i) = i ∗α[ q], [.] being the modulo operator; the pre-determined function is a function g 1, used by the encoder to generate an indexed sequence of coefficients C( i), such that for each integer i ≥ 1, C( i) = i ∗α[ q], [.] being the modulo operator; C) the one or more parameters comprise parameters α and κ that are members of the finite field F q, q being a field size of the finite field F q, and the pre-determined function is a function g 2, used by the encoder to generate an indexed sequence of coefficients C( i), such that for each integer i ≥ 1, C( i + 1) = (C( i) + κ)[q], [.] being the modulo operator, and C = α.