A cellular structure for a versatile Reed-Solomon decoder

A new cellular structure for a versatile Reed-Solomon (RS) decoder is introduced based on time domain decoding algorithm. The time domain decoding algorithm is restructured to be suitable for introducing the cellular structure. The main advantages of this structure are its versatility and very simple cellular structure. By versatile decoder we mean a decoder that can be programmed to decode any (n, k) RS code defined in Galois field 2/sup m/ with a fixed block length n and a fixed symbol size m. This decoder can correct both errors and erasures for any message length k. The introduced decoder is cellular and has a very simple structure and hence it is suitable for VLSI designs.