Technical University of Munich

Coding and Cryptography

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Antonia Wachter-Zeh

Channel Coding
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Antonia Wachter-Zeh
SS 2021
30.07.2021

• Write your name and student ID on every sheet. Please have your student card ready for
examination.
• The exam duration is 90 minutes.
• This exam has 7 questions on 22 pages (excluding the cover page).
• Do not write with pencils or red pens.
• You can get full credit if and only if you give reasons for your answer.
• Problem parts that are marked with an =⇒ can be solved independently of previous parts
of the same problem.
• Please remain seated until the end of the exam.
• This is an open book exam, you are allowed to use any material that is in paper form
(scripts, notes, print-outs, etc.) and a non-programmable calculator! Other materials are
not allowed.

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For internal use only:
Question Points Score
Channel Coding Principles 12
Linear Codes 15
Reed-Solomon Codes 19
Cyclic Codes 19
Reed–Muller Codes 10
Concatenated Codes 6
Convolutional Codes 9
Total: 90
 Problem 1: Channel Coding Principles (12 points)

Consider the code C ⊆ Fn3 given by

C = {(00000), (11111), (22222), (11222)}.

=⇒ a) What is the length n, the cardinality |C|, and the minimum distance d of the code C? (2 pt)

=⇒ b) Is the code C linear? Justify your answer. (1 pt)

=⇒ c) Consider a received word r = c + e, where c ∈ C. Give an example of a non-zero error (2 pt)

vector e that can be corrected uniquely by a nearest codeword decoder in this code.
Can all error vectors of this weight be corrected? Justify your answer!

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 Consider a transmitter sending the codeword c of C with probability



P c = (00000) = 0.1, P c = (11111) = 0.5



P c = (22222) = P c = (11222) = 0.2

over the q-ary symmetric channel (q = 3) with crossover probability p. The received word
at the channel output is denoted by r.
=⇒ d) First assume p = 0. Calculate the probability that the first symbol of the received word (1 pt)
is 1, i.e., P (r0 = 1).

=⇒ e) Now assume p = 0.1. Calculate the probability that the first symbol of the received (2 pt)
word is 1, i.e., P (r0 = 1).

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 f) For which value of the crossover probability p is the probability of receiving any symbol (2 pt)
in any position always the same, i.e., P (r0 = 0) = P (r0 = 1) = P (r0 = 2) = P (r1 =
0) = . . .?
Hint: In a uniformly random vector any value is equally likely in each position. You do
not need to calculate any probabilities!

For the following tasks concerning MAP and ML decoding the crossover probability is fixed
to be p = 0.6. The channel input probabilities are still given by



P c = (00000) = 0.1, P c = (11111) = 0.5



P c = (22222) = P c = (11222) = 0.2 .

=⇒ g) A receiver needs to decide whether to use a MAP or ML decoder. Are these decoders (2 pt)
equivalent in the given setting? Which decoder should the receiver choose to get the
best performance?

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 Problem 2: Linear Codes (15 points)

Consider the linear code C over F3 with parity-check matrix

 
2 2 1 1 0 0 0
2 2 1 0 1 0 0
H= 0
 .
1 0 0 0 1 0
0 2 1 0 0 0 1

=⇒ a) Give the length n and dimension k of the code C. (1 pt)

=⇒ b) Give a generator matrix G of the code C. (2 pt)

=⇒ c) The minimum distance of the code C is d ≥ 3. Show that this bound is tight, i.e., d = 3. (2 pt)

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 d) Consider a received word r = c + e. Give an error vector of weight wt(e) = 3 that is (2 pt)
not detectable by the code C.

=⇒ e) Is the code C optimal with respect to the Singleton bound? (1 pt)

=⇒ f) A word r = c + e = (0, 2, 2, 0, 1, 1, 0) is received, where c ∈ C. Calculate the syndrome (3 pt)

vector s of r corresponding to C and give the error vector e of smallest possible weight
corresponding to this syndrome.

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 Now consider a system that operates over a binary channel, i.e., in the field F2 .
g) Use the sphere-packing bound to determine the maximal dimension of a binary code of (2 pt)
length n = 7 and minimum distance d = 3.

=⇒ h) Consider a received word r = c + e, where c is a codeword of the [7, 4, 3] Hamming (2 pt)

code and wt(e) = 2. Let ĉ be the output of a nearest codeword decoder applied to r.
Argue why it always holds that ĉ 6= c.

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 Problem 3: Reed-Solomon Codes (19 points)

Let α be a primitive element of Fpm . The elements of Fpm are given in the table below.

Power of α Polynomial representation

− 0
α0 1
α1 x
α2 x2
α3 x+1
α4 x2 + x
α5 2
x +x+1
α6 x2 + 1

=⇒ a) Determine the parameters p and m of this field. Give the irreducible polynomial f (x) (2 pt)
used to construct this field.

=⇒ b) Give the polynomial representation of multiplicative and additive inverses of α4 and (3 pt)
x2 + 1. Is there an element in Fpm that does not have a multiplicative inverse? Is there
an element that does not have an additive inverse?

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 Consider a Reed-Solomon RS code over F8 generated by
 
1 1 1 1 1 1 δ0
GRS = 1 x x2 x + 1 x2 + x x2 + x + 1 δ1  .
1 x2 x2 + x x 2 + 1 x x+1 δ2

=⇒ c) Give a choice for the values of δ0 , δ1 , and δ2 such that the code is an RS code. For your (3 pt)
choice, is the code a primitive RS code?

=⇒ d) Give the length n, dimension k, and minimum distance d of the code RS. (1 pt)

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 Now consider the correction of t = 2 errors in this RS code. The received word is given by

r = c + e = (x, x2 , x2 + 1, x2 + x + 1, x2 , 1, x2 )

and the syndrome is given by

s = r · H> 2
RS = (1, 0, x + 1, 1).

=⇒ e) Set up and solve the linear system of equations S · Λ = Ω for the coefficients of the (4 pt)
error locator polynomial Λ(y).

=⇒ f) After decoding, the correct codeword was determined to be (2 pt)

c = (x, x2 , x2 + x + 1, x2 + x + 1, x, 1, x2 ) .

Give the roots of the error locator polynomial Λ(y).

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 The systematic generator matrix of an RS code over Fq is given by
 
1 0 ··· 0 0 r0,0 r0,1 ··· r0,n−k−1
0 1 · · · 0 0 r1,0 r1,1 ··· r1,n−k−1 
 
G0RS =  ... ... . . . .. .. .. .. .. ..
 ,
 
. . . . . .
 
0 0 · · · 1 0 rk−2,0 rk−2,1 · · · rk−2,n−k−1 
0 0 ··· 0 1 rk−1,0 rk−1,1 · · · rk−1,n−k−1

where the ri,j are elements of Fq .

=⇒ g) Argue why ri,j 6= 0 must hold for all i = 0, . . . , k − 1 and j = 0, . . . , n − k − 1. Is this (4 pt)
also a sufficient condition for the code to be MDS?
Hint: Consider the Hamming weight of a row of this matrix.

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 Problem 4: Cyclic Codes (19 points)

Consider a cyclic code over a finite field Fq with q = 5 and length n = 8. The polynomial
x8 − 1 can be factored over F5 into irreducible polynomials as follows

x8 − 1 = (x + 1) · (x + 2) · (x + 3) · (x + 4) · (x2 + 2) · (x2 + 3).

A cyclic code C is constructed by the generator polynomial
g(x) = (x + 1) · (x + 2) · (x + 3) · (x2 + 2) = x5 + x4 + 3x3 + 3x2 + 2x + 2.
=⇒ a) Compute the rate R of the code C. (1 pt)

=⇒ b) Write down the codeword c (in vector representation) that is obtained by encoding (1 pt)
u(x) = 1.

c) Give a generator matrix G of the code C. (2 pt)

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=⇒ d) Compute the parity-check polynomial h(x) of C. (1 pt)

e) Compute the generator polynomial g ⊥ (x) of the dual code C ⊥ . In this occasion, can the (2 pt)
parity-check matrix of C be a valid generator-matrix G⊥ of the dual code C ⊥ ? Justify
your answer!

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 1
=⇒ f) Prove that for any binary cyclic code of rate R = and length n = 2i for i ∈ N, the (3 pt)
2
minimum distance is d = 2.
Hint: (xn + 1) = (x + 1)n if n is a power of 2.

We would like to construct a ternary (q = 3) BCH code of length n = 10.

=⇒ g) Find the smallest possible extension degree s such that n divides q s − 1. (1 pt)

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=⇒ h) Compute all cyclotomic cosets for the given parameters q = 3 and n = 10. (2 pt)

i) What are the possible dimensions for a ternary BCH code of length n = 10 ? (2 pt)

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j) Pick the set D such that the BCH bound gives δ = 4. Does there exist another BCH (3 pt)
code of the same rate with a different BCH bound? If yes, which one is better, if not,
explain why.

k) State the parameters of the code to which our constructed BCH code is a subfield (1 pt)
subcode.

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 Problem 5: Reed–Muller Codes (10 points)

Consider a high-order Reed-Muller code RM(r, m).

=⇒ a) For r = 3 what is the smallest length Reed-Muller code that can correct t = 3 errors. (3 pt)
Please state the length, dimension and the minimum distance of such a code.

b) What are the Reed-Muller component codes Cu and Cv that one can use to construct (2 pt)
the code in a)? Do they both have smaller minimum distance than the code in a) ?

=⇒ c) Show that for any valid m, the all-one codeword belongs to the RM(r > 2, m) code. (3 pt)

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d) Write 3 more codewords that any Reed-Muller code RM(r > 0, m) has in its codebook, (2 pt)
(except for the all-one codeword). Justify your answer!

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 Problem 6: Concatenated Codes (6 points)

In this problem we want to construct a generalized concatenated code with l = 3 inner and
outer codes. The three binary inner codes are:
ˆ B1 : Single Parity Check Code (nSPC = 8)
ˆ B2 : Reed-Muller Code of first-order (r = 1, m = 3)
ˆ B3 : Repetition Code (n = 8)
=⇒ a) Argue why it holds that B3 ⊂ B2 ⊂ B1 . (2 pt)

=⇒ b) Find the parameters of the outer codes A1 , A2 , A3 such that the generalized concate- (4 pt)
nated code is a [72, 41, ≥ 8]2 code and A1 is an MDS code.

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 Problem 7: Convolutional Codes (9 points)

The following shift register encoder of a convolutional code is given.

(i) c(1)

u(1) c(2)

u(2) + c(3)

(ii) c(4)

=⇒ a) What is the memory m and constraint length ν of this convolutional code? What is the (2 pt)
rate R? Is the convolutional encoder (quasi-)systematic? Justify your answer!

=⇒ b) Compute the polynomial generator matrix G(D). (1 pt)

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=⇒ c) What is the transmitted codeword if the information sequences are u(1) = (1, 0, 1), (2 pt)
u(2) = (0, 0, 1) and we terminate the code? What is the rate after termination Rterm ?

=⇒ d) Assume that due to manufacturing problems, the lines depicted as (i) and (ii) in the (2 pt)
figure are disconnected. How can we reconstruct the information sequence if error-free
transmission is guaranteed? Is it possible to reconstruct it if only one error occurred?
Justify your answer!

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 Consider the following part of the trellis of a Viterbi decoder. Assume that up to now, all
the incoming paths have the same path-metric. The receiver knows that a binary erasure
channel with erasure probability  = 0.6 was used for the transmission.

r = (1 0 ? ? ?)

00000
S0t S0t+1
1
1010

S1t 11
011

1 11
11
S2t

S3t

Assume that r is the received sub-sequence at the step t of decoding. The erasure symbol
is denoted by ?.
=⇒ e) Which of the path(s) will not be removed? (2 pt)

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