Bounds on Covering Codes with the Rank Metric

In this paper, we investigate geometrical properties of the rank metric space and covering properties of rank metric codes. We first establish an analytical expression for the intersection of two balls with rank radii, and then derive an upper bound on the volume of the union of multiple balls with rank radii. Using these geometrical properties, we derive both upper and lower bounds on the minimum cardinality of a code with a given rank covering radius. The geometrical properties and bounds proposed in this paper are significant to the design, decoding, and performance analysis of rank metric codes.