The implementation of generalized minimum distance decoding for Reed Solomon codes

Generalized minimum distance (GMD) decoding is a variant of soft-decision decoding for RS codes. It is well known that soft-decision decoding gives around 2 dB more coding gain than the conventional hard-decision decoding. However, most research has concentrated on soft-decision-decoding for convolutional codes. In this paper, we present the implementation of GMD decoding for RS codes using a modified Welch-Berlekamp Algorithm. A pilot design RS(31, 27) GMD decoder has been successfully implemented on a XILINX FPGA