On minimum distance bounds for abelian codes (Q1205130)

This paper presents two methods of formulating a lower bound for the minimum distance of a code which is an ideal in an Abelian group ring. Simple algorithms have been presented for (1) deriving the generalized BCH bound for an Abelian code, (2) determining direct sum decompositions of an Abelian code to concatenated codes, and (3) deriving a bound on an Abelian code, viewed as a direct sum of concatenated codes, by applying the cyclic BCH bound to the inner and outer code of each concatenation. The applicability of these methods to codes that are not ideals in Abelian group rings has also been pointed out.