A Single and Adjacent Symbol Error-Correcting Parallel Decoder for Reed–Solomon Codes

This paper presents a novel high-speed Reed-Solomon (RS) decoder. The proposed decoder corrects in parallel adjacent and single-symbol errors; moreover, it serially corrects multiple-symbol errors other than adjacent errors. Its operation is based on a novel scheme that extends an existing binary BCH decoder such that a nonbinary RS code can be targeted. The proposed scheme, however, differs from previous schemes in the algorithm and construction of the parallel decoder; the proposed decoder is efficient for multilevel memory systems such as those utilizing phase change memory devices. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme requires a significantly smaller area and lower power than a traditional fully parallelized RS decoder capable of correcting any double-symbol errors in parallel. Furthermore, it is also shown that it requires a smaller area than a parallel error correction scheme using a nonbinary double-error-correcting orthogonal Latin square code.