A burst-correcting algorithm for Reed Solomon codes

Abstract

The Bose, Chaudhuri, and Hocquenghem (BCH) codes form a large class of powerful error-correcting cyclic codes. Among the non-binary BCH codes, the most important subclass is the Reed Solomon (RS) codes. Reed Solomon codes have the ability to correct random and burst errors. It is well known that an (n,k) RS code can correct up to (n-k)/2 random errors. When burst errors are involved, the error correcting ability of the RS code can be increased beyond (n-k)/2. It has previously been show that RS codes can reliably correct burst errors of length greater than (n-k)/2. In this paper, a new decoding algorithm is given which can also correct a burst error of length greater than (n-k)/2.