Construction of Cyclic Codes over a Class of Matrix Rings

Let $\mathbb F_2[u]/ \langle u^k \rangle= \mathbb F_2+u\mathbb F_2+u^2\mathbb F_2+\cdots+u^{k-1}\mathbb F_2 ,$ where $u^k=0$ for a positive integer $k$, and $\mathcal{R}=M_4 (\mathbb F_2( u)/ \langle u^k \rangle)$ be the finite noncommutative non-chain matrix ring of order $4\times4$. This paper presents the construction of cyclic codes over the finite field $\mathbb F_{16}$ via the considered matrix ring $\mathcal{R}$. In this connection, first, we discuss the structure of the ring $\mathcal{R}$ and show that $\mathcal{R}$ is isomorphic to the ring $( \mathbb F_{16}+ v\mathbb F_{16} + v^2\mathbb F_{16} + v^3\mathbb F_{16}) + u(\mathbb F_{16} + v\mathbb F_{16} + v^2\mathbb F_{16} + v^3\mathbb F_{16}) + u^2(\mathbb F_{16} + v\mathbb F_{16} + v^2\mathbb F_{16}+ v^3\mathbb F_{16}) + \cdots + u^{k-1}(\mathbb F_{16} + v\mathbb F_{16} + v^2\mathbb F_{16} + v^3\mathbb F_{16})$ where $v^4=0, u^k=0, u^iv^j=v^ju^i$ for $i \in \{1,\dots, k-1\}$ and $j \in \{1, 2, 3\}$. Then, we establish the form of ideals of the ring $\mathcal{R}$ and related cyclic codes over $\mathcal{R}$. Further, we show that these cyclic codes can be written as the direct sums of $\mathcal{R}$-submodules of $\frac{\mathcal{R}[x]}{<x^n-1>}$, and derive the formula for the cardinality of cyclic codes over $\mathcal{R}$. Then, we consider the Euclidean and Hermitian duals of the derived cyclic codes over $\mathcal{R}$. Under the module isometry for $\mathcal{R}$, we use the Bachoc map and the Gray map, which takes a derived cyclic code over $\mathcal{R}$ to $\mathbb F_{16}$. Finally, we provide some non-trivial examples of linear codes over $\mathbb F_{16}$ with good parameters that support our derived results and compare a few codes with existing codes in the literature.