Synchronization with permutation codes and Reed-Solomon codes

D.Ing. (Electrical And Electronic Engineering)We address the issue of synchronization, using sync-words (or markers), for encoded data. We focus on data that is encoded using permutation codes or Reed-Solomon codes. For each type of code (permutation code and Reed-Solomon code) we give a synchronization procedure or algorithm such that synchronization is improved compared to when the procedure is not employed. The gure of merit for judging the performance is probability of synchronization (acquisition). The word acquisition is used to indicate that a sync-word is acquired or found in the right place in a frame. A new synchronization procedure for permutation codes is presented. This procedure is about nding sync-words that can be used speci cally with permutation codes, such that acceptable synchronization performance is possible even under channels with frequency selective fading/jamming, such as the power line communication channel. Our new procedure is tested with permutation codes known as distance-preserving mappings (DPMs). DPMs were chosen because they have de ned encoding and decoding procedures. Another new procedure for avoiding symbols in Reed-Solomon codes is presented. We call the procedure symbol avoidance. The symbol avoidance procedure is then used to improve the synchronization performance of Reed-Solomon codes, where known binary sync-words are used for synchronization. We give performance comparison results, in terms of probability of synchronization, where we compare Reed-Solomon with and without symbol avoidance applied