Constructions of MDS-convolutional codes

Maximum-distance separable (MDS) convolutional codes are characterized through the property that the free distance attains the generalized singleton bound. The existence of MDS convolutional codes was established by two of the authors by using methods from algebraic geometry. This correspondence provides an elementary construction of MDS convolutional codes for each rate k/n and each degree /spl delta/. The construction is based on a well-known connection between quasi-cyclic codes and convolutional codes.