MDS Array Codes for Correcting Criss-Cross Errors

We present a family of MDS array codes of size (p - 1) x (p - 1), p a prime number and minimum criss-cross distance 3, i.e., the code is capable of correcting any row or column in error, without apriori knowledge of what type of error occurred. The complexity of the encoding and decoding algorithms is lower than that of known codes with the same error-correcting power, since our algorithms are based on exclusive-OR operations over lines of different slopes, as opposed to algebraic operations over a finite field. We also provide efficient encoding and decoding algorithms for errors and erasures.