Decoding the (23,12,7) Golay code using bit-error probability estimates

The (23,12,7) Golay code is a perfect linear error-correcting code that can correct all patterns of three or fewer errors in 23 bit positions. A simple BCH decoding algorithm, given in E. Berlekamp (1968), can decode the (23,12,7) Golay code provided there are no more than two errors. The shift-search algorithm, developed by Reed et a. (1990), sequentially inverts the information bits until the third error is canceled. It then utilizes the BCH decoding algorithm to correct the remaining two errors. In this paper a simplified decoding algorithm, called the reliability-search algorithm, is proposed. This algorithm uses bit-error probability estimates to cancel the third error and then uses the BCH decoding algorithm to correct the remaining two errors. Simulation results show that this new algorithm significantly reduces the decoding complexity for correcting the third error while maintaining the same BER performance.