39 research outputs found
Scattered EXIT Charts for Finite Length LDPC Code Design
We introduce the Scattered Extrinsic Information Transfer (S-EXIT) chart as a
tool for optimizing degree profiles of short length Low-Density Parity-Check
(LDPC) codes under iterative decoding. As degree profile optimization is
typically done in the asymptotic length regime, there is space for further
improvement when considering the finite length behavior. We propose to consider
the average extrinsic information as a random variable, exploiting its specific
distribution properties for guiding code design. We explain, step-by-step, how
to generate an S-EXIT chart for short-length LDPC codes. We show that this
approach achieves gains in terms of bit error rate (BER) of 0.5 dB and 0.6 dB
over the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel for codeword lengths of
128 and 180 bits, respectively, at a target BER of when compared to
conventional Extrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) chart-based optimization.
Also, a performance gain for the Binary Erasure Channel (BEC) for a block
(i.e., codeword) length of 180 bits is shown.Comment: in IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), May 201
Decoder-in-the-Loop: Genetic Optimization-based LDPC Code Design
LDPC code design tools typically rely on asymptotic code behavior and are
affected by an unavoidable performance degradation due to model imperfections
in the short length regime. We propose an LDPC code design scheme based on an
evolutionary algorithm, the Genetic Algorithm (GenAlg), implementing a
"decoder-in-the-loop" concept. It inherently takes into consideration the
channel, code length and the number of iterations while optimizing the
error-rate of the actual decoder hardware architecture. We construct short
length LDPC codes (i.e., the parity-check matrix) with error-rate performance
comparable to, or even outperforming that of well-designed standardized short
length LDPC codes over both AWGN and Rayleigh fading channels. Our proposed
algorithm can be used to design LDPC codes with special graph structures (e.g.,
accumulator-based codes) to facilitate the encoding step, or to satisfy any
other practical requirement. Moreover, GenAlg can be used to design LDPC codes
with the aim of reducing decoding latency and complexity, leading to coding
gains of up to dB and dB at BLER of for both AWGN and
Rayleigh fading channels, respectively, when compared to state-of-the-art short
LDPC codes. Also, we analyze what can be learned from the resulting codes and,
as such, the GenAlg particularly highlights design paradigms of short length
LDPC codes (e.g., codes with degree-1 variable nodes obtain very good results).Comment: in IEEE Access, 201
Decoder-in-the-Loop: Genetic Optimization- Based LDPC Code Design
LDPC code design tools typically rely on asymptotic code behavior and are affected by an unavoidable performance degradation due to model imperfections in the short length regime. We propose an LDPC code design scheme based on an evolutionary algorithm, the Genetic Algorithm (GenAlg), implementing a ``decoder-in-the-loop\u27\u27 concept. It inherently takes into consideration the channel, code length and the number of iterations while optimizing the error-rate of the actual decoder hardware architecture. We construct short length LDPC codes (i.e., the parity-check matrix) with error-rate performance comparable to, or even outperforming that of well-designed standardized short length LDPC codes over both AWGN and Rayleigh fading channels. Our proposed algorithm can be used to design LDPC codes with special graph structures (e.g., accumulator-based codes) to facilitate the encoding step, or to satisfy any other practical requirement. Moreover, GenAlg can be used to design LDPC codes with the aim of reducing decoding latency and complexity, leading to coding gains of up to 0:325 dB and 0:8 dB at BLER of 10¯⁵ for both AWGN and Rayleigh fading channels, respectively, when compared to state-of-the-art short LDPC codes. Also, we analyze what can be learned from the resulting codes and, as such, the GenAlg particularly highlights design paradigms of short length LDPC codes (e.g., codes with degree-1 variable nodes obtain very good results)
Irregular polar coding for complexity-constrained lightwave systems
Next-generation fiber-optic communications call for ultra-reliable forward error correction codes that are capable of low-power and low-latency decoding. In this paper, we propose a new class of polar codes, whose polarization units are irregularly pruned to reduce computational complexity and decoding latency without sacrificing error correction performance. We then experimentally demonstrate that the proposed irregular polar codes can outperform state-of-the-art low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, while decoding complexity and latency can be reduced by at least 30% and 70%, respectively, versus regular polar codes, while also obtaining a marginal performance improvement
Novel LDPC coding and decoding strategies: design, analysis, and algorithms
In this digital era, modern communication systems play an essential part in nearly every aspect of life, with examples ranging from mobile networks and satellite communications to Internet and data transfer. Unfortunately, all communication systems in a practical setting are noisy, which indicates that we can either improve the physical characteristics of the channel or find a possible systematical solution, i.e. error control coding. The history of error control coding dates back to 1948 when Claude Shannon published his celebrated work “A Mathematical Theory of Communication”, which built a framework for channel coding, source coding and information theory. For the first time, we saw evidence for the existence of channel codes, which enable reliable communication as long as the information rate of the code does not surpass the so-called channel capacity. Nevertheless, in the following 60 years none of the codes have been proven closely to approach the theoretical bound until the arrival of turbo codes and the renaissance of LDPC codes. As a strong contender of turbo codes, the advantages of LDPC codes include parallel implementation of decoding algorithms and, more crucially, graphical construction of codes. However, there are also some drawbacks to LDPC codes, e.g. significant performance degradation due to the presence of short cycles or very high decoding latency. In this thesis, we will focus on the practical realisation of finite-length LDPC codes and devise algorithms to tackle those issues.
Firstly, rate-compatible (RC) LDPC codes with short/moderate block lengths are investigated on the basis of optimising the graphical structure of the tanner graph (TG), in order to achieve a variety of code rates (0.1 < R < 0.9) by only using a single encoder-decoder pair. As is widely recognised in the literature, the presence of short cycles considerably reduces the overall performance of LDPC codes which significantly limits their application in communication systems. To reduce the impact of short cycles effectively for different code rates, algorithms for counting short cycles and a graph-related metric called Extrinsic Message Degree (EMD) are applied with the development of the proposed puncturing and extension techniques. A complete set of simulations are carried out to demonstrate that the proposed RC designs can largely minimise the performance loss caused by puncturing or extension.
Secondly, at the decoding end, we study novel decoding strategies which compensate for the negative effect of short cycles by reweighting part of the extrinsic messages exchanged between the nodes of a TG. The proposed reweighted belief propagation (BP) algorithms aim to implement efficient decoding, i.e. accurate signal reconstruction and low decoding latency, for LDPC codes via various design methods. A variable factor appearance probability belief propagation (VFAP-BP) algorithm is proposed along with an improved version called a locally-optimized reweighted (LOW)-BP algorithm, both of which can be employed to enhance decoding performance significantly for regular and irregular LDPC codes. More importantly, the optimisation of reweighting parameters only takes place in an offline stage so that no additional computational complexity is required during the real-time decoding process.
Lastly, two iterative detection and decoding (IDD) receivers are presented for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems operating in a spatial multiplexing configuration. QR decomposition (QRD)-type IDD receivers utilise the proposed multiple-feedback (MF)-QRD or variable-M (VM)-QRD detection algorithm with a standard BP decoding algorithm, while knowledge-aided (KA)-type receivers are equipped with a simple soft parallel interference cancellation (PIC) detector and the proposed reweighted BP decoders. In the uncoded scenario, the proposed MF-QRD and VM-QRD algorithms are shown to approach optimal performance, yet require a reduced computational complexity. In the LDPC-coded scenario, simulation results have illustrated that the proposed QRD-type IDD receivers can offer near-optimal performance after a small number of detection/decoding iterations and the proposed KA-type IDD receivers significantly outperform receivers using alternative decoding algorithms, while requiring similar decoding complexity
Belief Propagation Decoding of Polar Codes on Permuted Factor Graphs
We show that the performance of iterative belief propagation (BP) decoding of
polar codes can be enhanced by decoding over different carefully chosen factor
graph realizations. With a genie-aided stopping condition, it can achieve the
successive cancellation list (SCL) decoding performance which has already been
shown to achieve the maximum likelihood (ML) bound provided that the list size
is sufficiently large. The proposed decoder is based on different realizations
of the polar code factor graph with randomly permuted stages during decoding.
Additionally, a different way of visualizing the polar code factor graph is
presented, facilitating the analysis of the underlying factor graph and the
comparison of different graph permutations. In our proposed decoder, a high
rate Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) code is concatenated with a polar code and
used as an iteration stopping criterion (i.e., genie) to even outperform the
SCL decoder of the plain polar code (without the CRC-aid). Although our
permuted factor graph-based decoder does not outperform the SCL-CRC decoder, it
achieves, to the best of our knowledge, the best performance of all iterative
polar decoders presented thus far.Comment: in IEEE Wireless Commun. and Networking Conf. (WCNC), April 201