  A systematic convolutional encoder of rate $(n-1)/n$ and maximum degree $D$
generates a code of free distance at most ${\cal D} = D+2$ and, at best, a
column distance profile (CDP) of $[2,3,\ldots,{\cal D}]$. A code is
\emph{Maximum Distance Separable} (MDS) if it possesses this CDP. Applied on a
communication channel over which packets are transmitted sequentially and which
loses (erases) packets randomly, such a code allows the recovery from any
pattern of $j$ erasures in the first $j$ $n$-packet blocks for $j<{\cal D}$,
with a delay of at most $j$ blocks counting from the first erasure. This paper
addresses the problem of finding the largest ${\cal D}$ for which a systematic
rate $(n-1)/n$ code over $GF(2^m)$ exists, for given $n$ and $m$. In
particular, constructions for rates $(2^m-1)/2^m$ and $(2^{m-1}-1)/2^{m-1}$ are
presented which provide optimum values of ${\cal D}$ equal to 3 and 4,
respectively. A search algorithm is also developed, which produces new codes
for ${\cal D}$ for field sizes $2^m \leq 2^{14}$. Using a complete search
version of the algorithm, the maximum value of ${\cal D}$, and codes that
achieve it, are determined for all code rates $\geq 1/2$ and every field size
$GF(2^m)$ for $m\leq 5$ (and for some rates for $m=6$).
