METHODS AND DEVICES FOR RATE ADAPTIVE FORWARD ERROR CORRECTION USING A FLEXIBLE IRREGULAR ERROR CORRECTING CODE

Methods and devices for performing rate adaptive forward error correction using a flexible irregular error-correcting code, such as a staircase code. Each codeword of the ECC uses one of two or more different encodings, each encoding having a different number of parity bits. By adjusting the proportions of codewords of each encoding included in a data block, the FEC overhead can be finely adjusted, achieving flexible levels of FEC overhead in response to increased or decreased noise or perturbations in a communication channel. Three types of flexible irregular zipper codes are described: general zipper codes, staircase codes, and oFEC codes.