MDS self-dual codes over large prime fields (Q1867458)

Construction techniques for self-dual codes using combinatorial designs are well known. Recently, a new method of constructing self-dual codes was established using orthogonal designs. This method has led to the construction of many new self-dual codes over small fields and rings. This paper gives a generalization of this method to generalized orthogonal designs, and it presents a new method using Diophantine equations over \(\text{GF}(p)\) to find generator matrices for self-dual codes. These two methods are used to construct self-dual codes over \(\text{GF}(31)\) and \(\text{GF}(37)\).