  Due to dependence between codeword elements, index modulation (IM) and
related modulation techniques struggle to provide simple solutions for
practical problems such as Gray coding between information bits and
constellation points; and low-complexity log-likelihood ratio (LLR)
calculations for channel-encoded information bits. In this paper, we show that
a modulation technique based on a simple maximum distance separable (MDS) code,
in other words, MDS modulation, can provide simple yet effective solutions to
these problems, rendering the MDS techniques more beneficial in the presence of
coding. We also compare the coded error performance of the MDS methods with
that of the IM methods and demonstrate that MDS modulation outperforms IM.
