Dimension/length profiles and trellis complexity of linear blockcodes

This semi-tutorial paper discusses the connections between the dimension/length profile (DLP) of a linear code, which is essentially the same as its “generalized Hamming weight hierarchy”, and the complexity of its minimal trellis diagram. These connections are close and deep. DLP duality is closely related to trellis duality. The DLP of a code gives tight bounds on its state and branch complexity profiles under any coordinate ordering; these bounds can often be met. A maximum distance separable (MDS) code is characterized by a certain extremal DLP, from which the main properties of MDS codes are easily derived. The simplicity and generality of these interrelationships are emphasized