Reducing processing complexity and cost associated with a soft forward error correction (FEC) operation

A method comprising:

• receiving, from an optical receiver and by a device, a word, of a block of words within traffic, on which to perform forward error correction, each word of the block of words including respective encoded bits and respective sets of reliability bits for identifying a respective level of reliability of each one of the respective encoded bits;
• identifying, by the device, least reliable positions, within the word, that correspond to a subset of encoded bits, within the word, associated with one or more lowest levels of reliability;
• generating, by the device, a set of candidate words based on different combinations in which the subset of encoded bits can be inverted;
• identifying, by the device, a first pair of candidate words, within the set of candidate words, the first pair including a first word and a second word,
• the first word including a first bit, the first bit not being an inverted bit and being most reliable within the subset of encoded bits associated with the first word;
• identifying, by the device, a first quantity of errors associated with the first word and a second quantity of errors associated with the second word;
• determining, by the device, whether the first quantity of errors is greater than the second quantity of errors;
• selecting, by the device, the first word when the first quantity of errors is not greater than the second quantity of errors;
• identifying, by the device, a second pair of candidate words, within selected words of the set of candidate words, the second pair including the first word and a third word,
• the third word including a second bit that is most reliable within the subset of encoded bits associated with the third word;
• determining, by the device, whether the second bit is an inverted bit;
• selecting, by the device, the first word when the second bit is an inverted bit;
• and
• performing, by the device, forward error correction on the word based on the selected first word.

A device comprising:

• one or more components to:
• receive a word, of a block of words within traffic, on which to perform forward error correction, each word of the block of words including respective encoded bits and respective sets of reliability bits for identifying a respective level of reliability of each one of the respective encoded bits,
• identify, within the word, least reliable positions that correspond to a subset of encoded bits associated with one or more lowest levels of reliability,
• generate a set of candidate words based on different combinations in which the subset of encoded bits can be inverted,
• identify a first pair of words of the set of candidate words, the first pair including a first candidate word and a second candidate word, the first candidate word including a most reliable bit, of the subset of encoded bits associated with the first candidate word, that is not inverted,
• identify a quantity of errors associated with the first candidate word,
• determine whether the quantity of errors corresponds to an odd value,
• invert a parity bit associated with the first candidate word when the quantity of errors corresponds to the odd value,
• select the second candidate word when the parity bit, associated with the first candidate word is inverted, and
• perform forward error correction, on the word using the second candidate word based on selection of the second candidate word.