Hard- and soft-decision decoding beyond the half minimum distance---An algorithm for linear codes (Corresp.)

A decoding algorithm for linear codes that uses the minimum weight words of the dual code as parity checks is defined. This algorithm is able to correct beyond the half minimum distance and has the capability of including soft-decision decoding. Results on applying this algorithm to quadratic residue (QR) codes, BCH codes, and the Golay codes (with and without soft-decision decoding) are presented.