247 research outputs found
Shortened Array Codes of Large Girth
One approach to designing structured low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes
with large girth is to shorten codes with small girth in such a manner that the
deleted columns of the parity-check matrix contain all the variables involved
in short cycles. This approach is especially effective if the parity-check
matrix of a code is a matrix composed of blocks of circulant permutation
matrices, as is the case for the class of codes known as array codes. We show
how to shorten array codes by deleting certain columns of their parity-check
matrices so as to increase their girth. The shortening approach is based on the
observation that for array codes, and in fact for a slightly more general class
of LDPC codes, the cycles in the corresponding Tanner graph are governed by
certain homogeneous linear equations with integer coefficients. Consequently,
we can selectively eliminate cycles from an array code by only retaining those
columns from the parity-check matrix of the original code that are indexed by
integer sequences that do not contain solutions to the equations governing
those cycles. We provide Ramsey-theoretic estimates for the maximum number of
columns that can be retained from the original parity-check matrix with the
property that the sequence of their indices avoid solutions to various types of
cycle-governing equations. This translates to estimates of the rate penalty
incurred in shortening a code to eliminate cycles. Simulation results show that
for the codes considered, shortening them to increase the girth can lead to
significant gains in signal-to-noise ratio in the case of communication over an
additive white Gaussian noise channel.Comment: 16 pages; 8 figures; to appear in IEEE Transactions on Information
Theory, Aug 200
Characterization and Efficient Search of Non-Elementary Trapping Sets of LDPC Codes with Applications to Stopping Sets
In this paper, we propose a characterization for non-elementary trapping sets
(NETSs) of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. The characterization is based
on viewing a NETS as a hierarchy of embedded graphs starting from an ETS. The
characterization corresponds to an efficient search algorithm that under
certain conditions is exhaustive. As an application of the proposed
characterization/search, we obtain lower and upper bounds on the stopping
distance of LDPC codes.
We examine a large number of regular and irregular LDPC codes, and
demonstrate the efficiency and versatility of our technique in finding lower
and upper bounds on, and in many cases the exact value of, . Finding
, or establishing search-based lower or upper bounds, for many of the
examined codes are out of the reach of any existing algorithm
Hierarchical and High-Girth QC LDPC Codes
We present a general approach to designing capacity-approaching high-girth
low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes that are friendly to hardware
implementation. Our methodology starts by defining a new class of
"hierarchical" quasi-cyclic (HQC) LDPC codes that generalizes the structure of
quasi-cyclic (QC) LDPC codes. Whereas the parity check matrices of QC LDPC
codes are composed of circulant sub-matrices, those of HQC LDPC codes are
composed of a hierarchy of circulant sub-matrices that are in turn constructed
from circulant sub-matrices, and so on, through some number of levels. We show
how to map any class of codes defined using a protograph into a family of HQC
LDPC codes. Next, we present a girth-maximizing algorithm that optimizes the
degrees of freedom within the family of codes to yield a high-girth HQC LDPC
code. Finally, we discuss how certain characteristics of a code protograph will
lead to inevitable short cycles, and show that these short cycles can be
eliminated using a "squashing" procedure that results in a high-girth QC LDPC
code, although not a hierarchical one. We illustrate our approach with designed
examples of girth-10 QC LDPC codes obtained from protographs of one-sided
spatially-coupled codes.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Information THeor
From Cages to Trapping Sets and Codewords: A Technique to Derive Tight Upper Bounds on the Minimum Size of Trapping Sets and Minimum Distance of LDPC Codes
Cages, defined as regular graphs with minimum number of nodes for a given
girth, are well-studied in graph theory. Trapping sets are graphical structures
responsible for error floor of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, and are
well investigated in coding theory. In this paper, we make connections between
cages and trapping sets. In particular, starting from a cage (or a modified
cage), we construct a trapping set in multiple steps. Based on the connection
between cages and trapping sets, we then use the available results in graph
theory on cages and derive tight upper bounds on the size of the smallest
trapping sets for variable-regular LDPC codes with a given variable degree and
girth. The derived upper bounds in many cases meet the best known lower bounds
and thus provide the actual size of the smallest trapping sets. Considering
that non-zero codewords are a special case of trapping sets, we also derive
tight upper bounds on the minimum weight of such codewords, i.e., the minimum
distance, of variable-regular LDPC codes as a function of variable degree and
girth
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