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We study codes with parameters of $q$ -ary shortened Hamming codes, i.e., $(n=(q^{m}-q)/(q-1), q^{n-m}, 3)_{q}$. Firstly, we prove the fact mentioned in 1998 by Brouwer et al. that such codes are optimal, generalizing it to a bound for multifold packings of radius-1 balls, with a corollary for multiple coverings. In particular, we show that the punctured Hamming code is an optimal $q$ -fold packing with minimum distance 2. Secondly, for every admissible length starting from $n=20$ , we show the existence of 4-ary codes with parameters of shortened 1-perfect codes that cannot be obtained by shortening a 1-perfect code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diameter perfect codes form a natural generalization for perfect codes. They are based on the code-anticode bound which generalizes the sphere-packing bound. The code-anticode bound was proved by Delsarte for distance-regular graphs and it holds for some other metrics too. In this paper we prove the bound for non-binary constant-weight codes with the Hamming metric and characterize the diameter perfect codes and the maximum size anticodes for these codes. We distinguish between six families of non-binary diameter constant-weight codes and four families of maximum size non-binary constant-weight anticodes. Each one of these families of diameter perfect codes raises some different questions. We consider some of these questions and leave lot of ground for further research. Finally, as a consequence, some $t$ -intersecting families related to the well-known Erdös-Ko-Rado theorem, are constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbol-pair codes were introduced by Cassuto and Blaum in 2010 to protect pair errors in symbol-pair read channels. Recently Yaakobi, Bruck and Siegel (2016) generalized this notion to b-symbol codes in order to consider consecutive b errors for a prescribed integer b ≥ 2, and they gave constructions and decoding algorithms. Cyclic codes were considered by various authors as candidates for symbol-pair codes and they established minimum distance bounds on (certain) cyclic codes. In this paper we use algebraic curves over finite fields in order to obtain tight lower and upper bounds on b-symbol Hamming weights of arbitrary cyclic codes over Fq. Here b ≥ 2 is an arbitrary prescribed positive integer and Fq is an arbitrary finite field. We also present a stability theorem for an arbitrary cyclic code C of dimension k and length n: the b-symbol Hamming weight enumerator of C is the same as the k-symbol Hamming weight enumerator of C if k ≤ b ≤ n−1. Moreover, we give improved tight lower and upper bounds on b-symbol Hamming weights of some cyclic codes related to irreducible cyclic codes. Throughout the paper the length n is coprime to q. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We obtain a characterization on self-orthogonality for a given binary linear code in terms of the number of column vectors in its generator matrix, which extends the result of Bouyukliev et al. (2006). As an application, we give an algorithmic method to embed a given binary k-dimensional linear code C (k = 3,4) into a self-orthogonal code of the shortest length which has the same dimension k and minimum distance d' ≥ d(C). For k > 4, we suggest a recursive method to embed a k -dimensional linear code to a self-orthogonal code. We also give new explicit formulas for the minimum distances of optimal self-orthogonal codes for any length n with dimension 4 and any length n ≢ 6, 13,14,21,22,28,29 (mod 31) with dimension 5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we study the problem of list decoding of insertions and deletions. We present a Johnson-type upper bound on the maximum list size. The bound is meaningful only when insertions occur. Our bound implies that there are binary codes of rate $\Omega (1)$ that are list-decodable from a 0.707-fraction of insertions. For any $\tau _{\mathsf {I}} \geq 0$ and $\tau _{\mathsf {D}} \in [0,1)$ , there exist $q$ -ary codes of rate $\Omega (1)$ that are list-decodable from a $\tau _{\mathsf {I}}$ -fraction of insertions and $\tau _{\mathsf {D}}$ -fraction of deletions, where $q$ depends only on $\tau _{\mathsf {I}}$ and $\tau _{\mathsf {D}}$. We also provide efficient encoding and decoding algorithms for list-decoding from $\tau _{\mathsf {I}}$ -fraction of insertions and $\tau _{\mathsf {D}}$ -fraction of deletions for any $\tau _{\mathsf {I}} \geq 0$ and $\tau _{\mathsf {D}} \in [0,1)$. Based on the Johnson-type bound, we derive a Plotkin-type upper bound on the code size in the Levenshtein metric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The weight spectra of MDS codes of length n and dimension k over arbitrary alphabets are studied. For all q-ary MDS codes of dimension k and length ${n}\ne {q}+{k}-1 $ containing the zero codeword, it is shown that all k weights from n to ${n}-{k}+1 $ are realized. The weight spectrum in the remaining case ${n}={q}+{k}-1 $ is also determined. Additionally, we prove that all binary MDS codes are equivalent to linear MDS codes. The proofs are combinatorial, and self contained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, some infinite families of binary minimal and optimal linear codes were constructed from simplicial complexes by Hyun et al. Inspired by their work, we present two new constructions of codes over the ring $\mathbb {F}_{2}+u\mathbb {F}_{2}$ by employing simplicial complexes. When the simplicial complexes are all generated by a maximal element, we determine the Lee weight distributions of two classes of the codes over $\mathbb {F}_{2}+u\mathbb {F}_{2}$. Our results show that the codes have few Lee weights. Via the Gray map, we obtain an infinite family of binary codes meeting the Griesmer bound and a class of binary distance optimal codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An additive quaternary [n,k,d]-code (length n, quaternary dimension k, minimum distance d) is a 2k-dimensional F2-vector space of n-tuples with entries in F2 ⊕ F2 (the 2-dimensional vector space over F2) with minimum Hamming distance d. We determine the optimal parameters of additive quaternary codes of dimension k ≤ 3. The most challenging case is dimension k = 2.5. We prove that an additive quaternary [n,2.5,d]-code where d < n−1 exists if and only if 3(n−d) ≥ ⌈d/2⌉ + ⌈d/4⌉ + ⌈d/8⌉. In particular, we construct new optimal 2.5-dimensional additive quaternary codes. As a by-product, we give a direct proof for the fact that a binary linear [3m,5,2e]2-code for e < m−1 exists if and only if the Griesmer bound 3(m−e) ≥e/2⌉ + ⌈e/4⌉ + ⌈e/8⌉ is satisfied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper generalizes the method proposed by Poulliat et al. for the determination of the optimal Galois field coefficients of a non-binary LDPC parity check constraint based on the binary image of the code. Optimal, or almost-optimal, parity check coefficients are given for check degree varying from 4 to 20 and Galois field varying from GF (64) up to GF (1024). For all given sets of coefficients, no codeword of Hamming weight two exists. A reduced complexity algorithm to compute the binary Hamming weight 3 of a parity check is proposed. When the number of sets of coefficients is too high for an exhaustive search and evaluation, a local greedy search is performed. Explicit tables of coefficients are given. The proposed sets of coefficients can effectively replace the random selection of coefficients often used in NB-LDPC construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of subblock-constrained codes has recently gained attention due to their application in diverse fields. We present bounds on the size and asymptotic rate for two classes of subblock-constrained codes. The first class is binary constant subblock-composition codes (CSCCs), where each codeword is partitioned into equal sized subblocks, and every subblock has the same fixed weight. The second class is binary subblock energy-constrained codes (SECCs), where the weight of every subblock exceeds a given threshold. We present novel upper and lower bounds on the code sizes and asymptotic rates for the binary CSCCs and SECCs. For a fixed subblock length and small relative distance, we show that the asymptotic rate for CSCCs (respectively SECCs) is strictly lower than the corresponding rate for constant weight codes (CWCs) [respectively heavy weight codes (HWCs)]. Furthermore, for codes with high weight and low relative distance, we show that the asymptotic rate for CSCCs is strictly lower than that of SECCs, which contrasts with the fact that the asymptotic rate for the CWCs is equal to that of the HWCs. We also provide a correction to an earlier result by Chee et al. (2014) on the asymptotic CSCC rate. In addition, we present several numerical examples comparing the rates for the CSCCs and SECCs with those for the CWCs and HWCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates fundamental properties of nonlinear binary codes by looking at the codebook matrix not row-wise (codewords), but column-wise. The family of weak flip codes is presented and shown to contain many beautiful properties. In particular the subfamily fair weak flip codes, which goes back to Shannon et al. and which was shown to achieve the error exponent with a fixed number of codewords $\mathsf {M}$ , can be seen as a generalization of linear codes to an arbitrary number of codewords. The fair weak flip codes are related to binary nonlinear Hadamard codes. Based on the column-wise approach to the codebook matrix, the $r$ -wise Hamming distance is introduced as a generalization to the well-known and widely used (pairwise) Hamming distance. It is shown that the minimum $r$ -wise Hamming distance satisfies a generalized $r$ -wise Plotkin bound. The $r$ -wise Hamming distance structure of the nonlinear fair weak flip codes is analyzed and shown to be superior to many codes. In particular, it is proven that the fair weak flip codes achieve the $r$ -wise Plotkin bound with equality for all $r$. In the second part of this paper, these insights are applied to a binary erasure channel with an arbitrary erasure probability 0 < $\delta$ < 1. An exact formula for the average error probability of an arbitrary (linear or nonlinear) code using maximum likelihood decoding is derived and shown to be expressible using only the $r$ -wise Hamming distance structure of the code. For a number of codewords $\mathsf {M}$ satisfying $\mathsf {M}\le 4$ and an arbitrary finite blocklength $n$ , the globally optimal codes (in the sense of minimizing the average error probability) are found. For $\mathsf {M}$ = 5 or $\mathsf {M}$ = 6 and an arbitrary finite blocklength $n$ , the optimal codes are conjectured. For larger $\mathsf {M}$ , observations regarding the optimal design are presented, e.g., that good codes have a large $r$ -wise Hamming distance structure for all $r$. Numerical results validate our code design criteria and show the superiority of our best found nonlinear weak flip codes compared with the best linear codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Codes over Galois rings have been studied extensively during the last three decades. Negacyclic codes over \mathop \mathrm GR\nolimits (2^a,m) of length 2^s have been characterized: the ring \mathcal R2(a,m,-1)= {\mathrm{ GR}}(2^{a},m)[x]/\langle x^{2^{s}}+1\rangle is a chain ring. Furthermore, these results have been generalized to \lambda -constacyclic codes for any unit \lambda of the form 4z-1 , . In this paper, we study more general cases and investigate all cases, where {\mathcal{ R}}_{p}(a,m,\gamma) = {\mathrm{ GR}}(p^{a},m)[x]/\langle x^{p^{s}}-\gamma \rangle is a chain ring. In particular, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the ring {\mathcal{ R}}_{p}(a,m,\gamma) to be a chain ring are obtained. In addition, by using this structure we investigate all \gamma -constacyclic codes over \mathop {\mathrm {GR}}\nolimits (p^{a},m) when {\mathcal{ R}}_{p}(a,m,\gamma)$ is a chain ring. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of self-orthogonal and self-dual \gamma$ -constacyclic codes are also provided. Among others, for any prime p$ , the structure of is used to establish the Hamming and homogeneous distances of $\gamma$ -constacyclic codes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Consider the problem of packing Hamming balls of a given relative radius subject to the constraint that they cover any point of the ambient Hamming space with multiplicity at most $L$ . For odd $L\ge 3$ , an asymptotic upper bound on the rate of any such packing is proved. The resulting bound improves the best known bound (due to Blinovsky’1986) for rates below a certain threshold. The method is a superposition of the linear-programming idea of Ashikhmin, Barg, and Litsyn (that was previously used to improve the estimates of Blinovsky for $L=2$ ) and a Ramsey-theoretic technique of Blinovsky. As an application, it is shown that for all odd $L$ , the slope of the rate-radius tradeoff is zero at zero rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a generic construction of codebooks based on binary codes is introduced. With this generic construction, a few previous constructions of optimal codebooks are extended, and a new class of codebooks almost meeting the Levenshtein bound is presented. Exponentially many codebooks meeting or almost meeting the Levenshtein bound from binary codes are obtained in this paper. The codebooks constructed in this paper have alphabet size 4. As a byproduct, three bounds on the parameters of binary codes are derived. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It is shown that for some location sets and some integral multiple power Galois fields that some new general subclasses of Goppa codes may be defined which have improved lower bounds to code dimension and minimum distance compared with ordinary Goppa codes. Some previously published results are shown to be particular cases of these general subclasses of codes. A new subclass of reversible Goppa codes is also presented. Examples of code construction for these subclasses, demonstrating the improved code parameters, are presented for both non binary and binary codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an extension of the Elias bound on the minimum distance of codes for discrete alphabets with general, possibly infinite valued, distances. The bound is obtained by combining a previous extension of the Elias bound, introduced by Blahut, with an extension of a bound previously introduced by the author which builds upon ideas of Gallager, Lovász, and Marton. The result can in fact be interpreted as a unification of the Elias bound and of Lovász’s bound on graph (or zero-error) capacity, both being recovered as particular cases of the one presented here. Previous extensions of the Elias bound by Berlekamp, Blahut, and Piret are shown to be included as particular cases of our bound. Applications to the reliability function are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, code decompositions (a.k.a. code nestings) are used to design binary polarization kernels. The proposed kernels are in general nonlinear. They provide a better polarization exponent than the previously known kernels of the same dimensions. In particular, nonlinear kernels of dimensions 14, 15, and 16 are constructed and are shown to have optimal asymptotic error-correction performance. The optimality is proved by showing that the exponents of these kernels achieve a new upper bound that is developed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present new constructions of codes for asymmetric channels for both binary and nonbinary alphabets, based on methods of generalized code concatenation. For the binary asymmetric channel, our methods construct nonlinear single-error-correcting codes from ternary outer codes. We show that some of the Varshamov–Tenengol’ts–Constantin–Rao codes, a class of binary nonlinear codes for this channel, have a nice structure when viewed as ternary codes. In many cases, our ternary construction yields even better codes. For the nonbinary asymmetric channel, our methods construct linear codes for many lengths and distances which are superior to the linear codes of the same length capable of correcting the same number of symmetric errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study certain combinatorial aspects of list-decoding, motivated by the exponential gap between the known upper bound (of \(O(1/\gamma )\) ) and lower bound (of \(\Omega _{p} (\log (1/\gamma ))\) ) for the list size needed to list decode up to error fraction \(p\) with rate \(\gamma \) away from capacity, i.e., \(1- h(p)-\gamma \) [here \(p\in (0, {1}/{2})\) and \(\gamma > 0\) ]. Our main result is that we prove that in any binary code \(C \subseteq \{ 0, 1 \} ^{n}\) of rate \(1- h(p) - \gamma \) , there must exist a set \( \mathcal {L}\subset C\) of \(\Omega _{p} (1/\sqrt {\gamma })\) codewords such that the average distance of the points in \( \mathcal {L}\) from their centroid is at most \(pn\) . In other words, there must exist \(\Omega _{p}(1/\sqrt {\gamma })\) codewords with low average radius. The standard notion of list decoding corresponds to working with the maximum distance of a collection of codewords from a center instead of average distance. The average radius form is in itself quite natural; for instance, the classical Johnson bound in fact implies average-radius list-decodability. The remaining results concern the standard notion of list-decoding, and help clarify the current state of affairs regarding combinatorial bounds for list-decoding as follows. First, we give a short simple proof, over all fixed alphabets, of the above-mentioned \(\Omega _{p}(\log (1/\gamma ))\) lower bound. Earlier, this bound followed from a complicated, more general result of Blinovsky. Second, we show that one cannot improve the \(\Omega _{p}(\log (1/\gamma ))\) lower bound via techniques based on identifying the zero-rate regime for list-decoding of constant-weight codes [this is a typical approach for negative results in coding theory, including the \(\Omega _{p} (\log (1/\gamma ))\) list-size lower bound]. On a positive note, our \(\Omega _{p}(1/\sqrt {\gamma })\) lower bound for average-radius list-decoding circumvents this barrier. Third, we exhibit a reverse connection between the existence of constant-weight and general codes for list-decoding, showing that the best possible list-size, as a function of the gap \(\gamma \) of the rate to the capacity limit, is the same up to constant factors for both constant-weight codes (with weight bounded away from \(p\) ) and general codes. Fourth, we give simple second moment-based proofs that w.h.p. a list-size of \(\Omega _{p} (1/\gamma )\) is needed for list-decoding random codes from errors as well as erasures. For random linear codes, the corresponding list-size bounds are \(\Omega _{p} (1/\gamma )\) for errors and \(\exp (\Omega _{p}(1/\gamma ))\) for erasures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fix-free codes are prefix condition codes which can also be decoded in the reverse direction. They have attracted attention from several communities and are used in video standards. Two variations (with additional constraints) have also been considered for joint source-channel coding: 1) “symmetric” codes, which require the codewords to be palindromes; 2) codes with distance constraints on pairs of codewords. Approaches to determine the existence of a fix-free code with a given set of codeword lengths, for each of the three variations, are proposed. These appear to involve the first use of Boolean satisfiability (SAT) for the existence and design of source codes. Branch-and-bound algorithms to find the collection of optimal codes for asymmetric and symmetric fix-free codes are described. The first bound for the performance of optimal symmetric binary fix-free codes is provided. An earlier conjecture on optimal symmetric binary fix-free codes is proven and related results for asymmetric fix-free codes are presented. A variation of the 3/4 conjecture for fix-free codes is introduced. A key idea in the first conjecture and the new one is a definition of how one sequence of nondecreasing natural numbers dominates another. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Various kinds of distances of all negacyclic codes of length 2s over are completely determined. Using our structure theorems of negacyclic codes of length 2s over Z2a, we first calculate the Hamming distances of all such negacyclic codes, which particularly lead to the Hamming weight distributions and Hamming weight enumerators of several codes. These Hamming distances are then used to obtain their homogeneous, Lee, and Euclidean distances. Our techniques are extendable to the more general class of constacyclic codes, namely, the λ-constacyclic codes of length 2s over Z2a, where λ is any unit of Z2a with the form 4k - 1. We establish the Hamming, homogeneous, Lee, and Euclidean distances of all such constacyclic codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various kinds of distances of all negacyclic codes of length 2s over are completely determined. Using our structure theorems of negacyclic codes of length 2s over Z2a, we first calculate the Hamming distances of all such negacyclic codes, which particularly lead to the Hamming weight distributions and Hamming weight enumerators of several codes. These Hamming distances are then used to obtain their homogeneous, Lee, and Euclidean distances. Our techniques are extendable to the more general class of constacyclic codes, namely, the λ-constacyclic codes of length 2s over Z2a, where λ is any unit of Z2a with the form 4k - 1. We establish the Hamming, homogeneous, Lee, and Euclidean distances of all such constacyclic codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]