A versatile time domain Reed-Solomon decoder

A versatile Reed-Solomon (RS) decoder structure based on a time-domain decoding algorithm is developed. The algorithm is modified to increase the performance, and a method is introduced to decode any RS code generated by any generator polynomial. The main advantage of the introduced decoder structure is the versatility. By a versatile decoder, the authors mean a decoder that can be programmed to decode any RS code defined in Galois field 2^m with a fixed symbol size m. This decoder can correct both errors and erasures for any RS code, including shortened and singly extended codes. The introduced decoder has a very simple structure and can be used to design high-speed, single-chip VLSI decoders