ABSTRACT
The most useful codes we presented in Chapter 3 were Hamming codes because they are linear and perfect. However, Hamming codes are not ideal if the occurrence of more than one bit error in a single codeword is likely. Since Hamming codes are only one-error correcting, if more than one bit error occurs during transmission of a Hamming codeword, the received vector will not be correctable to the codeword that was sent. Moreover, since Hamming codes are perfect, if more than one bit error occurs, the received vector will be uniquely correctable, but to the wrong codeword. In this chapter, we will present a type of code called a BCH code that is linear and can be constructed to be multiple-error correcting. BCH codes are named for their creators, Bose, Chaudhuri, and Hocquenghem.
