High-rate self-synchronizing codes

Self-synchronization under the presence of additive noise can be achieved by allocating a certain number of bits of each codeword as markers for synchronization. Difference systems of sets are combinatorial designs which specify the positions of synchronization markers in codewords in such a way that the resulting error-tolerant self-synchronizing codes may be realized as cosets of linear codes. Ideally, difference systems of sets should sacrifice as few bits as possible for a given code length, alphabet size, and error-tolerance capability. However, it seems difficult to attain optimality with respect to known bounds when the noise level is relatively low. In fact, the majority of known optimal difference systems of sets are for exceptionally noisy channels, requiring a substantial amount of bits for synchronization. To address this problem, we present constructions for difference systems of sets that allow for higher information rates while sacrificing optimality to only a small extent. Our constructions utilize optimal difference systems of sets as ingredients and, when applied carefully, generate asymptotically optimal ones with higher information rates. We also give direct constructions for optimal difference systems of sets with high information rates and error-tolerance that generate binary and ternary self-synchronizing codes.Comment: 9 pages, no figure, 2 tables. Final accepted version for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory. Material presented in part at the International Symposium on Information Theory and its Applications, Honolulu, HI USA, October 201

Estimates on the Size of Symbol Weight Codes

The study of codes for powerlines communication has garnered much interest over the past decade. Various types of codes such as permutation codes, frequency permutation arrays, and constant composition codes have been proposed over the years. In this work we study a type of code called the bounded symbol weight codes which was first introduced by Versfeld et al. in 2005, and a related family of codes that we term constant symbol weight codes. We provide new upper and lower bounds on the size of bounded symbol weight and constant symbol weight codes. We also give direct and recursive constructions of codes for certain parameters.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure