Inversionless decoding of both errors and erasures of Reed-Solomon code

Previously, the authors proposed an inverse-free Berlekamp-Massey (1968, 1969) algorithm to simplify the Reed-Solomon (RS) codes. This modified RS decoding method is the best known technique for finding the error locator polynomial. The inverse-free method is generalized to find both errors and erasures. The basic idea of the new procedure is the replacement of the initial condition of the BM algorithm by the Forney (1965) syndromes. With this improved technique, the complexity of time-domain RS decoders for correcting both errors and erasures is reduced substantially from previous approaches.