Software optimization for fast encoding and decoding of Reed-Solomon codes

In this work, we propose a software library written in C for encoding and decoding Reed-Solomon codes. Library consists of one scalar CODEC and two vectorized codecs for x86 architecture. Vectorized codecs use the benefits of SSSE3 or AVX2 instruction sets. We compare the performance of our three codecs with the JPWL RS CODEC from the Open JPEG library. The performance comparison methodology is described, and it is based on the measuring of the encoding and decoding speed. The results demonstrate a 4.1x speed gain with the scalar CODEC and a 19.6x gain with the vectorized CODEC. Based on testing results and supported instruction sets, a dynamic selection of CODEC version is proposed.