Hardware implementation of shortened (48,38) Reed Solomon forward error correcting code

Abstract

Transmitting information with accuracy is vital in any communication system. For this reason, forward error correction schemes are widely used to lower the error probability and hence increase the transmission accuracy. Reed Solomon is one of the most widely used forward error correcting block codes, and is capable of detecting and correcting multiple errors, particularly focusing on burst errors. This paper presents a shortened (48,38) Reed Solomon (RS) forward error-correcting code from a hardware implementation point of view. Detailed mathematical equations explaining the algorithm are also included in the paper. MATLAB, fixed point C and Verilog implementations of the algorithm have also been tested and verified, for a noisy channel as well