15. The method of claim 9 , where creating the second merged subset further includes: obtaining a first weighting value and a second weighting value, the first weighting value and second weighting value identifying how samples, selected from the first selected samples and the third samples, are to be apportioned in the second merged subset; obtaining, from the first merged subset, the first selected samples based on the first weighting value; obtaining, from the third subset, the third samples based on the second weighting value; identifying the lowest reliability bits associated from among the first selected samples and the third samples; and selecting the second selected samples that correspond to the identified lowest reliability bits.
9. A method comprising: receiving, from an optical receiver and by a device, a plurality of words within traffic, each of the plurality of words including a plurality of samples, each of the plurality of samples including: a corresponding one of a plurality of encoded bits, and respective reliability bits for identifying a respective level of reliability of the corresponding one of the plurality of encoded bits; identifying, by the device and within a word of the plurality of words, subsets of the plurality of samples associated with the word, each of the subsets including a respective equal portion of the plurality of samples; selecting, by the device, a first one of the subsets and a second one of the subsets, the first one of the subsets or the second one of the subsets being selected in a random manner; determining, by the device, lowest first reliability bits within the first one of the subsets and lowest second reliability bits within the second one of the subsets; creating, by the device, a first merged subset, based on first selected samples associated with lowest reliability bits of first samples from the first one of the subsets and based on second samples from the second one of the subsets, the first samples corresponding to the lowest first reliability bits, and the second samples corresponding to the lowest second reliability bits; determining, by the device, lowest third reliability bits within a third one of the subsets; creating, by the device, a second merged subset based on second selected samples associated with lowest reliability bits from among the first selected samples and third samples of the third one of the subsets, the third samples corresponding to the lowest third reliability bits, and there being an equal probability that the second merged subset includes at least two of the first selected samples and at least one of the third samples, generating, by the device, candidate words based on one or more of the second selected samples; and processing, by the device, the word using the candidate words.