New class of nonlinear systematic error detecting codes

A code C detects error e with probability 1-Q(e),ifQ(e) is a fraction of codewords y such that y, y+e/spl isin/C. We present a class of optimal nonlinear q-ary systematic (n, q/sup k/)-codes (robust codes) minimizing over all (n, q/sup k/)-codes the maximum of Q(e) for nonzero e. We also show that any linear (n, q/sup k/)-code V with n /spl les/2k can be modified into a nonlinear (n, q/sup k/)-code C/sub v/ with simple encoding and decoding procedures, such that the set E={e|Q(e)=1} of undetected errors for C/sub v/ is a (k-r)-dimensional subspace of V (|E|=q/sup k-r/ instead of q/sup k/ for V). For the remaining q/sup n/-q/sup k-r/ nonzero errors, Q(e)/spl les/q/sup -r/for q/spl ges/3 and Q(e)/spl les/ 2/sup -r+1/ for q=2.