International Journal of Engineering & Technology Sciences (IJETS) 1 (2): 51-60, 2013 ISSN 2289-4152 © Academic Research Online Publisher Application of Galois field for Error Correction in OCDMA based Wireless Infrared Communications Munsif Ali Jatoi a a Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Perak, Malaysia * Corresponding author. Tel.:+60(0)125654510 E-mail address: munsif.jatoi@gmail.com ARTICLE INFO Article history Revised:1May2013 Accepted:21May2013 A b s t r a c t Wireless infrared systems are used for many wireless applications as they provide large bandwidth, inherent security and less fading. Errors are caused due to background light, which causes degradation of overall system performance. Error correction techniques are used to remove the errors caused during transmission. The Reed-Solomon codes are famous for many commercial applications. In this work, the software implementation is performed in MATLAB. In general, the data are encoded with Reed-Solomon codes and then decoded with the Euclid algorithm or the Berlekamp-Massey Algorithm. The Reed Solomon codes are generated using a Galois field. The Galois field is finite field. This paper provides a brief account of implementation and discussion of Galois field as applied for encoding and decoding. The algorithm is analysed for Bit Error Rate (BER), Signal to noise ratio (SNR), Coding gain and channel bit error rate. Different sample lengths are used to compare the run time and error rate for each. Some results are provided to show the result of algorithm applied. © Academic Research Online Publisher. All rights reserved. Keywords: Wireless Infrared Communications, Forward Error Correction, Galois Field, Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), Bit error rate (BER) 1. Introduction The demand for higher data rates in wireless computing, wireless video and wireless multimedia applications, urges one to take an interest in wireless infrared for further development as a wireless system [1]. Wireless infrared communications (WIR) can be defined as the propagation of light waves in free space using infrared radiation whose range is 400-700nm.This range corresponds to frequencies of hundreds of terahertz (THz) which is high for higher data rate applications. This term was first introduced by Gfeller [2].Since then there has been a significant development in this field related to different link configurations, improving transmitter efficiency, increased receiver responsivity and multiple access techniques for better results [3]