Soft decision iterative error and erasure decoder for Reed–Solomon codes

A list decoding algorithm for iterative soft-decision decoding of Reed-Solomon (RS) codes is proposed in this study. The algorithm erases a combination of least reliable symbols and iteratively flips a new combination of least reliable bits in the received sequence. The symbol error correction capability of the algebraic hard decision RS decoder is extended up to the minimum Hamming distance of the code. A gain in performance is exhibited either at a lower or similar iteration complexity as compared to other iterative soft decision decoders of similar type. A complexity comparison with some of the comparable soft decision decoders is given. Simulation results for different modulation schemes and channel types are presented in this study for a comparison with other soft decision decoders of a similar kind.