The instant demand to achieve high data rate in communication systems is

driving the high-speed links into multi Gigabit per second data transitions,

where its suffering from inter symbol interference due to bandwidth limitation.

Equalizers are used at both the transmitter and receiver side of the link to

counteract signal attenuation, reflections, crosstalk and any type of distortion

of the signal.

2-level pulse amplitude modulation is today the most commonly used signal

modulator. To achieve higher data rates, but remaining the same bandwidth,

higher order pulse amplitude modulation must be used. The disadvantage is

that the signal-to-noise ratio gets worse, which increases the bit error rate.

Forward error correction is a method to reduce the bit error rate over a noisy or

unreliable channel.

This master thesis is about investigating forward error correction as an

equalization method, to compensate for the increased bit error rate when using

higher order signal modulation.

Reed Solomon forward error corrector was implemented, which has its strength

in correcting burst of errors. Two different testbenches were used to create the

same errors that appears in a real channel.

Probability plots were used to investigate how the Reed Solomon could

compensate at low bit error rate regions. The probability plots showed that the

Reed Solomon (544,514) would be able to

Reduce the bit error rate from down to . The same Reed Solomon was used in

the channel simulations, where the output bit error rate was correlating to the

probability plots.