Maximum Distance Separable Codes for Symbol-Pair Read Channels

We study (symbol-pair) codes for symbol-pair read channels introduced recently by Cassuto and Blaum (2010). A Singleton-type bound on symbol-pair codes is established and infinite families of optimal symbol-pair codes are constructed. These codes are maximum distance separable (MDS) in the sense that they meet the Singleton-type bound. In contrast to classical codes, where all known q-ary MDS codes have length O(q), we show that q-ary MDS symbol-pair codes can have length \Omega(q^2). In addition, we completely determine the existence of MDS symbol-pair codes for certain parameters

On the Peak-to-Mean Envelope Power Ratio of Phase-Shifted Binary Codes

The peak-to-mean envelope power ratio (PMEPR) of a code employed in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems can be reduced by permuting its coordinates and by rotating each coordinate by a fixed phase shift. Motivated by some previous designs of phase shifts using suboptimal methods, the following question is considered in this paper. For a given binary code, how much PMEPR reduction can be achieved when the phase shifts are taken from a 2^h-ary phase-shift keying (2^h-PSK) constellation? A lower bound on the achievable PMEPR is established, which is related to the covering radius of the binary code. Generally speaking, the achievable region of the PMEPR shrinks as the covering radius of the binary code decreases. The bound is then applied to some well understood codes, including nonredundant BPSK signaling, BCH codes and their duals, Reed-Muller codes, and convolutional codes. It is demonstrated that most (presumably not optimal) phase-shift designs from the literature attain or approach our bound.Comment: minor revisions, accepted for IEEE Trans. Commun

Symplectic spreads, planar functions and mutually unbiased bases

In this paper we give explicit descriptions of complete sets of mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) and orthogonal decompositions of special Lie algebras $sl_n(\mathbb{C})$ obtained from commutative and symplectic semifields, and from some other non-semifield symplectic spreads. Relations between various constructions are also studied. We show that the automorphism group of a complete set of MUBs is isomorphic to the automorphism group of the corresponding orthogonal decomposition of the Lie algebra $sl_n(\mathbb{C})$. In the case of symplectic spreads this automorphism group is determined by the automorphism group of the spread. By using the new notion of pseudo-planar functions over fields of characteristic two we give new explicit constructions of complete sets of MUBs.Comment: 20 page