Intel Corporation
Decomposable forward error correction

Abstract:

Network communication systems may employ coding schemes to provide error checking and/or error correction. Such schemes may include parity or check symbols in a message that may add redundancy, which may be used to check for errors. For example, Ethernet may employ forward error correction (FEC) schemes using Reed-Solomon codes. An increase in the number of parity symbols may increase the power of the error-correcting scheme, but may lead to an increased in latencies. Encoders and decoders that may be configured in a manner to produce variable-length messages while preserving compatibility with network standards are described. Decoders described herein may be able to verify long codewords by checking short codes and integrating the results. Encoders described herein may be able to generate codewords in multiple formats without replicating large segments of the circuitry.