43 research outputs found
Spatially Coupled LDPC Codes Constructed from Protographs
In this paper, we construct protograph-based spatially coupled low-density
parity-check (SC-LDPC) codes by coupling together a series of L disjoint, or
uncoupled, LDPC code Tanner graphs into a single coupled chain. By varying L,
we obtain a flexible family of code ensembles with varying rates and frame
lengths that can share the same encoding and decoding architecture for
arbitrary L. We demonstrate that the resulting codes combine the best features
of optimized irregular and regular codes in one design: capacity approaching
iterative belief propagation (BP) decoding thresholds and linear growth of
minimum distance with block length. In particular, we show that, for
sufficiently large L, the BP thresholds on both the binary erasure channel
(BEC) and the binary-input additive white Gaussian noise channel (AWGNC)
saturate to a particular value significantly better than the BP decoding
threshold and numerically indistinguishable from the optimal maximum
a-posteriori (MAP) decoding threshold of the uncoupled LDPC code. When all
variable nodes in the coupled chain have degree greater than two,
asymptotically the error probability converges at least doubly exponentially
with decoding iterations and we obtain sequences of asymptotically good LDPC
codes with fast convergence rates and BP thresholds close to the Shannon limit.
Further, the gap to capacity decreases as the density of the graph increases,
opening up a new way to construct capacity achieving codes on memoryless
binary-input symmetric-output (MBS) channels with low-complexity BP decoding.Comment: Submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Information Theor
Low-Floor Tanner Codes via Hamming-Node or RSCC-Node Doping
We study the design of structured Tanner codes with low error-rate floors on the AWGN channel. The design technique involves the “doping” of standard LDPC (proto-)graphs, by which we mean Hamming or recursive systematic convolutional (RSC) code constraints are used together with single-parity-check (SPC) constraints to construct a code’s protograph. We show that the doping of a “good” graph with Hamming or RSC codes is a pragmatic approach that frequently results in a code with a good threshold and very low error-rate floor. We focus on low-rate Tanner codes, in part because the design of low-rate, low-floor LDPC codes is particularly difficult. Lastly, we perform a simple complexity analysis of our Tanner codes and examine the performance of lower-complexity, suboptimal Hamming-node decoders
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
Windowed Decoding of Protograph-based LDPC Convolutional Codes over Erasure Channels
We consider a windowed decoding scheme for LDPC convolutional codes that is
based on the belief-propagation (BP) algorithm. We discuss the advantages of
this decoding scheme and identify certain characteristics of LDPC convolutional
code ensembles that exhibit good performance with the windowed decoder. We will
consider the performance of these ensembles and codes over erasure channels
with and without memory. We show that the structure of LDPC convolutional code
ensembles is suitable to obtain performance close to the theoretical limits
over the memoryless erasure channel, both for the BP decoder and windowed
decoding. However, the same structure imposes limitations on the performance
over erasure channels with memory.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in the IEEE
Transactions on Information Theor
Design and Analysis of Time-Invariant SC-LDPC Convolutional Codes With Small Constraint Length
In this paper, we deal with time-invariant spatially coupled low-density
parity-check convolutional codes (SC-LDPC-CCs). Classic design approaches
usually start from quasi-cyclic low-density parity-check (QC-LDPC) block codes
and exploit suitable unwrapping procedures to obtain SC-LDPC-CCs. We show that
the direct design of the SC-LDPC-CCs syndrome former matrix or, equivalently,
the symbolic parity-check matrix, leads to codes with smaller syndrome former
constraint lengths with respect to the best solutions available in the
literature. We provide theoretical lower bounds on the syndrome former
constraint length for the most relevant families of SC-LDPC-CCs, under
constraints on the minimum length of cycles in their Tanner graphs. We also
propose new code design techniques that approach or achieve such theoretical
limits.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on
Communication
Time-Invariant Spatially Coupled Low-Density Parity-Check Codes with Small Constraint Length
We consider a special family of SC-LDPC codes, that is, time-invariant LDPCC
codes, which are known in the literature for a long time. Codes of this kind
are usually designed by starting from QC block codes, and applying suitable
unwrapping procedures. We show that, by directly designing the LDPCC code
syndrome former matrix without the constraints of the underlying QC block code,
it is possible to achieve smaller constraint lengths with respect to the best
solutions available in the literature. We also find theoretical lower bounds on
the syndrome former constraint length for codes with a specified minimum length
of the local cycles in their Tanner graphs. For this purpose, we exploit a new
approach based on a numerical representation of the syndrome former matrix,
which generalizes over a technique we already used to study a special subclass
of the codes here considered.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be presented at IEEE BlackSeaCom 201