An apparatus generally including a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit may be configured to (i) receive a configuration signal that identifies a current one of a plurality of communications standards and (ii) generate a plurality of matrix elements based on the configuration signal. The second circuit may include a plurality of matrixes. The second circuit may be configured to (i) fill the matrixes with the matrix elements and (ii) generate an encoded signal by forward error correction encoding an input signal using the matrixes. The encoded signal generally complies with the current communications standard.