An Improved Upperbound for (n, k, m) Systematic Convolutional Codes in Burst Erasure Channels

For (n, k, m) systematic convolutional polynomial encoders, there exists an upperbound on the length of a correctable burst of erasures in terms of code parameters by Arai et al. In this paper, we restrict ourselves to the burst-erasure correcting capabilities of (n, k, m) systematic convolutional polynomial encoders for m = fk - 1, where f is a natural number. We derive a new upperbound for systematic convolutional polynomial encoders with m = fk - 1 and show that it is tighter than Arai´s. In addition, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions for achieving the improved upperbound in terms of the encoder coefficients.