DFT domain characterization of quasi-cyclic codes (Q1396698)

The discrete Fourier transform (DFT) has previously been used to characterize cyclic codes. A code is said to be \(m\)-quasi-cyclic if a cyclic shift of every codeword by \(m\) positions gives another codeword. Thus cyclic codes are 1-quasi-cyclic. This paper presents a transform domain characterization for linear quasi-cyclic codes over a finite field. A length \(n\) DFT is employed for codes with \((n,q) = 1\). The DFT characterization of cyclic codes is extended to quasi-cyclic codes via cyclotomic cosets and invariant subspaces. A lower bound on the minimum Hamming distance of an \(m\)-quasi-cyclic code is derived based on the minimum distance of a BCH code. A decoding algorithm for this BCH code can be used to decode the quasi-cyclic code up to this bound.