Some results on the minimum weight of primitive BCH codes (Corresp.)

For1 leq i leq m - s- 2and0 leq s leq m -2i, the intersection of the binary BCH code of designed distance2 ^{m-s-1} - 2 ^{m-s-t-1} - 1and length2^m - 1with the shortened(s + 2)th-order Reed-Muller code of length2^m -- 1has codewords of weight2^{m-s-1} - 2^{m-s-t-1} - 1.     

An approximation to the weight distribution of binary primitive BCH codes with designed distances 9 and 11 (Corresp.)

Recently Kasami {em et al.} presented a linear programming approach to the weight distribution of binary linear codes [2]. Their approach to compute upper and lower bounds on the weight distribution of binary primitive BCH codes of length2^{m} - 1withm geq 8and designed distance2t + 1with4 leq t leq 5is improved. From these results, the relative deviation of the number of codewords of weightjleq 2^{m-1}from the binomial distribution2^{-mt} left( stackrel{2^{m}-1}{j} right)is shown to be less than 1 percent for the following cases: (1)t = 4, j geq 2t + 1andm geq 16; (2)t = 4, j geq 2t + 3and10 leq m leq 15; (3)t=4, j geq 2t+5and8 leq m leq 9; (4)t=5,j geq 2t+ 1andm geq 20; (5)t=5, j geq 2t+ 3and12 leq m leq 19; (6)t=5, j geq 2t+ 5and10 leq m leq 11; (7)t=5, j geq 2t + 7andm=9; (8)t= 5, j geq 2t+ 9andm = 8.     

Some 3-error-correcting BCH codes have covering radius 5 (Corresp.)

The coset leader of greatest weight in the 3-error-correcting BCH code of length2^{m}-1has weight 5, for oddm geq 5.     

Complete decoding of triple-error-correcting binary BCH codes

An extensive study of binary triple-error-correcting codes of primitive lengthn = 2^{m} - 1is reported that results in a complete decoding algorithm whenever the maximum coset weightW_{max}is five. In this regard it is shown thatW_{max} = 5when four dividesm, and strong support is provided for the validity of the conjecture thatW_{max} = 5for allm. The coset weight distribution is determined exactly in some cases and bounded in others.     

All binary 3-error-correcting BCH codes of length2^m-ihave covering radius 5 (Corresp.)

Van der Horst and Berger have conjectured that the covering radius of the binary 3-error-correcting Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) code of length2^{m} - l, m geq 4is 5. Their conjecture was proved earlier whenm equiv 0, 1, or 3 (mod 4). Their conjecture is proved whenm equiv 2(mod 4).     

Duadic Codes

A new family of binary cyclic(n,(n + 1)/2)and(n,(n - 1)/2)codes are introduced, which include quadratic residue (QR) codes whennis prime. These codes are defined in terms of their idempotent generators, and they exist for all oddn = p_{1}^{a_{1}} p_{2}^{a_{2}} cdots p_{r}^{a_{r}}where eachp_{i}is a primeequiv pm 1 pmod{8}. Dual codes are identified. The minimum odd weight of a duadic(n,(n + 1)/2)code satisfies a square root bound. When equality holds in the sharper form of this bound, vectors of minimum weight hold a projective plane. The unique projective plane of order 8 is held by the minimum weight vectors in two inequivalent(73,37,9)duadic codes. All duadic codes of length less than127are identified, and the minimum weights of their extensions are given. One of the duadic codes of length113has greater minimum weight than the QR code of that length.     

Maximum likelihood decoding of certain Reed - Muller codes (Corresp.)

We present an efficient maximum likelihood decoding algorithm for the punctured binary Reed-Muller code of order(m - 3)and length2^{m} - 1, M geq 3, and we give formulas for the weight distribution of coset leaders of such codes.     

On the inequivalence of generalized Preparata codes

Ifmis odd andsigma /in Aut GF(2^{m})is such thatx rightarrow x^{sigma^{2}-1}is1-1, there is a[2^{m+1}-1,2^{m+l}-2m-2]nonlinear binary codeP(sigma)having minimum distance 5. All the codesP(sigma)have the same distance and weight enumerators as the usual Preparata codes (which rise asP(sigma)whenx^{sigma}=x^{2}). It is shown thatP(sigma)andP(tau)are equivalent if and only iftau=sigma^{pm 1}, andAut P(sigma)is determined.     

On efficient majority logic decodable codes

A particular shortening technique is applied to majority logic decodable codes of length2^{t}. The shortening technique yields new efficient codes of lengthsn = 2^{p}, wherepis a prime, e.g., a (128,70) code withd_{maj} = 16. For moderately long code lengths (e.g.,n = 2^{11} or 2^{13}), a 20-25 percent increase in efficiency can be achieved over the best previously known majority logic decodable codes. The new technique also yields some efficient codes for lengthsn = 2^{m}wheremis a composite number, for example, a (512,316) code withd_{maj} = 32code which has 42 more information bits than the previously most efficient majority logic decodable code.     

A new class of codes meeting the Griesmer bound

An infinite sequence ofk-dimensional binary linear block codes is constructed with parametersn=2^{k}+2^{k-2}-15,d=2^{k-1}+2^{k-3}-8,k geq 7. Fork geq 8these codes are unique, while there are five nonisomorphic codes fork=7. By shortening these codes in an appropriate way, one finds codes meeting the Griesmer bound for2^{k-1}+2^{k-3}-15 leq d leq 2^{k-1}+2^{k-3}-8; k geq 7.     

Construction of de Bruijn sequences of minimal complexity

It is well known that the linear complexity of a de Bruijn sequenceSof length2^{n}is bounded below by2^{n- 1} + nforn geq 3. It is shown that this lower bound is attainable for alln.     

On some properties of the undetected error probability of linear codes (Corresp.)

A recent paper [1] discussed the2^{-p}bound (wherep = n- k) for the probability of undetected errorP(epsilon)for an(n,k)block code used for error detection on a binary symmetric channel. This investigation is continued and extended and dual codes are studied. The dual and extension of a perfect code obey the2^{-p}bound, but this is not necessarily true for arbitrary codes that obey the bound. Double-error-correcting BCH codes are shown to obey the bound. Finally the problem of constructing uniformly good codes is examined.     

On the covering radius of binary codes (Corresp.)

Upper bounds on the covering radius of binary codes are studied. In particular it is shown that the covering radiusr_{m}of the first-order Reed-Muller code of lenglh2^{m}satisfies2^{m-l}-2^{lceil m/2 rceil -1} r_{m} leq 2^{m-1}-2^{m/2-1}.     

Weight enumerator for second-order Reed-Muller codes

In this paper, we establish the following result. Theorem:A_i, the number of codewords of weightiin the second-order binary Reed-Muller code of length2^mis given byA_i = 0unlessi = 2^{m-1}or2^{m-1} pm 2^{m-l-j}, for somej, 0 leq j leq [m/2], A_0 = A_{2^m} = 1, and begin{equation} begin{split} A_{2^{m-1} pm 2^{m-1-j}} = 2^{j(j+1)} &{frac{(2^m - 1) (2^{m-1} - 1 )}{4-1} } \ .&{frac{(2^{m-2} - 1)(2^{m-3} -1)}{4^2 - 1} } cdots \ .&{frac{(2^{m-2j+2} -1)(2^{m-2j+1} -1)}{4^j -1} } , \ & 1 leq j leq [m/2] \ end{split} end{equation} begin{equation} A_{2^{m-1}} = 2 { 2^{m(m+1)/2} - sum_{j=0}^{[m/2]} A_{2^{m-1} - 2^{m-1-j}} }. end{equation}     

High-radix transforms for Reed-Solomon codes over Fermat primes (Corresp.)

It is shown that a high-radix fast Fourier transform (FFT) with generatorgamma = 3over GF(F_{n}), whereF_{n} = 2^{2}^{n'} + 1is a Fermat prime, can be used for encoding and decoding of Reed-Solomon (RS) codes of length2^{2}^{n}. Such an RS decoder is considerably faster than a decoder using the usual radix 2 FFT. This technique applies most ideally to a 16-error-correcting, 256-symbol RS code of 8 bits being considered currently for space communication applications. This special code can be encoded and decoded rapidly using a high-radix FFT algorithm over GF(F_{3}).     

Some long cyclic linear binary codes are not so bad

We show that when an inner linear cyclic binary code which has an irreducible check polynomial is concatenated with an appropriately chosen maximal-distance-separable outer code, then the overall code is cyclic OverGF(2). Using this theorem, we construct a number of linear cyclic binary codes which are better than any previously known. In particular, by taking the inner code to be a quadratic residue code, we obtain linear cyclic binary codes of lengthN, rateR, and distanceD geq (1 - 2R)N/ sqrt{2 log N}, which compares favorably with the BCH distanceD sim (2 ln R^{-1})N/log N, although it still fails to achieve the linear growth of distance with block length which is possible with noncyclic linear concatenated codes. While this construction yields many codes, including several with block lengths greater than10^{10^5}, we have not been able to prove that there are arbitrarily long codes of this type without invoking the Riemann hypothesis or the revised Artin conjecture, as the existence of long codes of our type is equivalent to the existence of large primespfor which the index of 2 is(p - 1)/2.     

No primitive binaryt-error-correcting BCH code witht > 2is quasi-perfect (Corresp.)

Gorenstein, Peterson, and Zierler have conjectured that not-error-correcting BCH code of length2^{m} - 1witht > 2is quasi-perfect. This conjecture is proved. The covering radius of a code is defined as the smallest integerrhosuch that the union of the spheres of radius ia about the codewords equals the containing space.     

On the structure of rate1/nconvolutional codes

We show what choice there is in assigning output digits to transitions of a binary rate1/ncode trellis so that the latter will correspond to a convolutional code. We then prove that in any ratefrac{1}{2}noncatastrophic code of constraint lengthupsiloneach binary sequence of length2j(1 leq j leq upsilon - 1)is associated with exactly2^{upsilon -j -1}distinct pathsjbranches long. As a consequence of the above properties nondegenerate codes with branch complementarity are fully determined by the topological relationship of the trellis transitions associated with output pairs 00. Finally, we derive a new upper bound on free distance of rate1/nconvolutional codes and use our results to determine the length of the largest input sequence that can conceivably result in an output whose weight is     

Further classifications of codes meeting the Griesmer bound (Corresp.)

For any(n, k, d)binary linear code, the Griesmer bound says thatn geq sum_{i=0}^{k-1} lceil d/2^{i} rceil, wherelceil x rceildenotes the smallest integergeq x. We consider codes meeting the Griesmer bound with equality. These codes have parametersleft( s(2^{k} - 1) - sum_{i=1}^{p} (2^{u_{i}} - 1), k, s2^{k-1} - sum_{i=1}^{p} 2^{u_{i} -1} right), wherek > u_{1} > cdots > u_{p} geq 1. We characterize all such codes whenp = 2oru_{i-1}-u_{i} geq 2for2 leq i leq p.     

Concerning a bound on undetected error probability (Corresp.)

In the past, it has generally been assumed that the probability of undetected error for an(n,k)block code, used solely for error detection on a binary symmetric channel, is upperbounded by2^{-(n-k)}. In this correspondence, it is shown that Hamming codes do indeed obey this bound, but that the bound is violated by some more general codes. Examples of linear, cyclic, and Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codes which do not obey the bound are given.