1 Burst List Decoding of Interleaved Reed–Solomon Codes

Abstract—It is shown that interleaved Reed–Solomon codes can be list-decoded for burst errors while attaining the generalized Reiger bound for list decoding. A respective decoding algorithm is presented which is (significantly) more efficient than a burst list decoder for a non-interleaved Reed–Solomon code with comparable parameters. Finally, it is shown through counterexamples that, unlike the special case of Reed–Solomon codes, interleaving does not always preserve the list decoding properties of the constituent code. Index Terms—Burst errors, interleaving, list decoding, Reed– Solomon codes, Reiger bound. I