CODING THEORY The Essentials D.G. Hoffman D.A. Leonard C.C. Lindner K.T. Phelps C.A. Rodger J.R. Wall Auburn University ‘Auburn, Alabama Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York « Basel « Hong KongLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Coding theory: the eszentiale/D. G. Hoffman... [et a] Pp. cm, ~~ (Monographs and textbooks in pure and applied mathematics; 150) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8247-8611-4 (acid-free paper) 1, Coding theory. I. Hoffman, D.G, I.Series QA268.C69 1992 003.54- ~de20 91-21383 cp This book is printed on acid-free paper. Copyright © 1991 by MARCEL DEKKER, INC. All Rights Reserved ‘Neither this book nor any part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilming, ‘and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without per- ‘mission in writing from the publisher, MARCEL DEKKER, INC. 270 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 ‘Current printing (last digit): 98765432 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Preface This book is designed to teach coding theory in a mathematically sound ‘manner to students in engineering, computer science, and mathematics. It differs from most other texts on the subject in two important ways: the “just in time Philosophy,” and unnecessary mathematical generalizations are omitted. ‘The “just in time” philosophy consists of introducing the necessary mathe- ‘matics just in time to be applied; ie. juxtaposed, with the applications. We don't have 200 pages of mathematics (most of which is irrelevant) followed by 200 pages of coding theory. So the format is roughly: mathematics, appli cations, mathematics, applications, ete. Avoiding unnecessary generalizations means that we don't find it necessaiy, for example, to describe a cyclic code as a principal ideal. In other words, we have for the most part omitted the mathe- ‘matical generalizations and terminology that would normally be used in teaching course in coding theory to a class consisting entirely of advanced mathematics majors. Our book deals exclusively with binary codes and codes over fields of charac- teristic 2, stressing the construction, encoding and decoding of several important families of codes. Primarily, we have chosen families of codes that are of interest in engineering and computer science, such at Reed-Solomon codes and convolu- tional codes, which have been used in deep space communications and consumer electronics (to name but two areas of application). ‘This choice of codes also reflects a broad range of algorithms for encoding and decoding. ‘This text been used to teach a two-quarter sequence in coding theory at Auburn University. ‘The minimal prerequisite for students taking this course is a rather elementary knowledge of linear algebra. However, the more linear algebra, as well as general modern algebra, students bring to the course the better. Students with more mathematical background and maturity will be able ‘to move rather quickly through the early material ‘The authors would very much appreciate any comments that users of this text ‘care to pass along. Our email address is KTPHELPSODUCVAX.AUBURN. EDU. ‘The authors wish to thank Mrs. Rosie Torbert for her exceptional technical® PREFACE expertise in typing the manuscript. Her never failing good cheer in enduring the slings and arrows of constant revisions places her in the saint category. D. G. Hoffman, D. A. Leonard, C. ©. Lindner, K. T. Phelps, ©. A. Rodger, J. R. Wall Contents Preface List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction ta Coding Theory 11 Introduction 1.2 Basie Assumptions 13 Correcting and Detecting Error Patterns 14 Information Rate 15 The Effects of Error Correction and Detection 1.6 Finding the Most Likely Codeword Transmitted LT Some Basic Algebra, 18 Weight and Distance 1.9 Maximum Likelihood Decoding 1.10 Reliability of MED 1.11 Error-Detecting Codes 1.12 Error-Correcting Codes Linear Codes 21 Linear Codes 22 Two Important Subspaces 23 Independence, Basis, Dimension 24 Matrices 25 Bases for C =< $ > and C1 2.6 Generating Matrices and Encoding 2.1 Parity-Check Matrices 28 Equivalent Codes 29 Distance of a Linear Code 2.10 Cosets 2.11 MLD for Linear Codes 2.12 Reliability of IMLD for Linear Codes 2 “ 1 20 a 29 29 31 33 39 4 45 49 53 st 58 él 7