On MDS convolutional Codes over $\mathbb Z_{p^r}$

Maximum Distance Separable (MDS) convolutional codes are cha- racterized through the property that the free distance meets the generalized Singleton bound. The existence of free MDS convolutional codes over Z p r was recently discovered in [26] via the Hensel lift of a cyclic code. In this paper we further investigate this important class of convolutional codes over Z p r from a new perspective. We introduce the notions of p-standard form and r- optimal parameters to derive a novel upper bound of Singleton type on the free distance. Moreover, we present a constructive method for building general (non necessarily free) MDS convolutional codes over Z p r for any given set of parameters.