a frame header of forward error correction is provided , suitable for using in the dvb - c2 standard . in the dvb - c2 standard , adaptive coding and modulation or variable coding and modulation is applied to each fec block to provide as much flexibility as possible . as a result , a frame header is attached in front of each fec frame to inform the coding rate , modulation type and physical layer pipe identifier . besides the signaling of physical layer related information , the fec frame header has to provide a structure so that it can be easily and reliably detected in the receiver . motivated by the need in dvb - c2 standard , an efficient and reliable fec header suitable for dvb - c2 standard is provided in at least one implementation in this disclosure that combines use of two different modulation types for the header information . in addition , the detection method of the fec header is described .