Hierarchical erasure correction of linear codes (Q1994962)

Let \(q\) be a prime power and let \(\mathbf{F}_{q^\alpha}\) be a field extension of \(\mathbf{F}_{q}.\) Codes in \(\mathbf{F}_{q^\alpha}^n\) are useful when the decoder receives each codeword sequentially where codeword symbols are viewed as vectors over the field \(\mathbf{F}_{q}.\) The authors give several constructions of codes in this setting and give the value of \(t\) for which the code is a \(t\)-error correcting code. They show that Gabidulin codes, which are a well-known family of rank metric codes, can be used in this setting to protect against a large family of erasure patterns. Additionally, they give several possible applications for these codes.