Comments on the decoding algorithms of DBEC-TBED Reed-Solomon codes

Two decoding algorithms for double-byte error correcting-triple-byte error detecting (DBEC-TBED) Reed-Solomon (RS) codes are implemented using Turbo-Pascal. The first one is the noniterative decoding algorithm developed by R.H. Deng and D.J. Costello (ibid., vol.C-36, p.1359-63, Nov. 1987). The second one is a frequency-domain RS decoding method given by R.E. Blahut (Theory and Practice of Error Control Codes, Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley, 1983), which implements a standard Berlekamp-Massey algorithm; it is used as reference. Several executions of the software show that the algorithm of Deng-Costello fails in the detection of some triple-byte errors, whereas the standard reference algorithm succeeds in detection always. An example is presented in which the algorithm of Deng-Costello cannot detect a triple-error pattern. The authors also propose a modification to the algorithm of Deng-Costello for its proper operation and make a comparison between the two algorithms.<>