A method combining error correcting code and runlength limited code for reducing error propagation

In this paper we discuss a method for reducing the error propagation based on a combination of the error correcting code and the runlength limited code. When the runlength limited code and the error correcting code are used together, the runlength limited encoding is usually applied after the data have been encoded by the encoder of the error correcting code. However, error propagation generated in the data transmission channel can be substantially mitigated during the decoding of the runlength limited code if the runlength encoding is implemented first with subsequent implementation of the error correcting code. The method proposed in this paper consists of a periodic insertion of check symbols in the data sequence encoded first by the runlength limited code and then by the error correcting code. We also proposed a new runlength limited code suitable for the proposed combined method and evaluated its performance. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Electron Comm Jpn Pt 3, 84(11): 45–51, 2001