On decoding of maximum-distance separable linear codes

In this paper, some properties of maximum-distance separable linear codes are presented. Based on these properties, a decoding algorithm for correcting random errors is established. A simpler decoding algorithm for correcting burst errors is also given. Applying these decoding algorithms to known classes of maximum-distance separable linear codes, the amount of hardware required for implementation is only a small fraction of those required by the existing decoding algorithms.