High Order Modulation Protograph Codes

Digital communication coding methods for designing protograph-based bit-interleaved code modulation that is general and applies to any modulation. The general coding framework can support not only multiple rates but also adaptive modulation. The method is a two stage lifting approach. In the first stage, an original protograph is lifted to a slightly larger intermediate protograph. The intermediate protograph is then lifted via a circulant matrix to the expected codeword length to form a protograph-based low-density parity-check code

Improving soft FEC performance for higher-order modulations via optimized bit channel mappings

Soft forward error correction with higher-order modulations is often implemented in practice via the pragmatic bit-interleaved coded modulation paradigm, where a single binary code is mapped to a nonbinary modulation. In this paper, we study the optimization of the mapping of the coded bits to the modulation bits for a polarization-multiplexed fiber-optical system without optical inline dispersion compensation. Our focus is on protograph-based low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes which allow for an efficient hardware implementation, suitable for high-speed optical communications. The optimization is applied to the AR4JA protograph family, and further extended to protograph-based spatially coupled LDPC codes assuming a windowed decoder. Full field simulations via the split-step Fourier method are used to verify the analysis. The results show performance gains of up to 0.25 dB, which translate into a possible extension of the transmission reach by roughly up to 8%, without significantly increasing the system complexity.Comment: This paper was published in Optics Express and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-22-12-1454

Low-Density Parity-Check Coded High-order Modulation Schemes

In this thesis, we investigate how to support reliable data transmissions at high speeds in future communication systems, such as 5G/6G, WiFi, satellite, and optical communications. One of the most fundamental problems in these communication systems is how to reliably transmit information with a limited number of resources, such as power and spectral. To obtain high spectral efficiency, we use coded modulation (CM), such as bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) and delayed BICM (DBICM). To be specific, BICM is a pragmatic implementation of CM which has been largely adopted in both industry and academia. While BICM approaches CM capacity at high rates, the capacity gap between BICM and CM is still noticeable at lower code rates. To tackle this problem, DBICM, as a variation of BICM, introduces a delay module to create a dependency between multiple codewords, which enables us to exploit extrinsic information from the decoded delayed sub-blocks to improve the detection of the undelayed sub-blocks. Recent work shows that DBICM improves capacity over BICM. In addition, BICM and DBICM schemes protect each bit-channel differently, which is often referred to as the unequal error protection (UEP) property. Therefore, bit mapping designs are important for constructing pragmatic BICM and DBICM. To provide reliable communication, we have jointly designed bit mappings in DBICM and irregular low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. For practical considerations, spatially coupled LDPC (SC-LDPC) codes have been considered as well. Specifically, we have investigated the joint design of the multi-chain SC-LDPC and the BICM bit mapper. In addition, the design of SC-LDPC codes with improved decoding threshold performance and reduced rate loss has been investigated in this thesis as well. The main body of this thesis consists of three parts. In the first part, considering Gray-labeled square M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellations, we investigate the optimal delay scheme with the largest spectrum efficiency of DBICM for a fixed maximum number of delayed time slots and a given signal-to-noise ratio. Furthermore, we jointly optimize degree distributions and channel assignments of LDPC codes using protograph-based extrinsic information transfer charts. In addition, we proposed a constrained progressive edge growth-like algorithm to jointly construct LDPC codes and bit mappings for DBICM, taking the capacity of each bit-channel into account. Simulation results demonstrate that the designed LDPC-coded DBICM systems significantly outperform LDPC-coded BICM systems. In the second part, we proposed a windowed decoding algorithm for DBICM, which uses the extrinsic information of both the decoded delayed and undelayed sub-blocks, to improve the detection for all sub-blocks. We show that the proposed windowed decoding significantly outperforms the original decoding, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed decoding algorithm. In the third part, we apply multi-chain SC-LDPC to BICM. We investigate various connections for multi-chain SC-LDPC codes and bit mapping designs and analyze the performance of the multi-chain SC-LDPC codes over the equivalent binary erasure channels via density evolution. Numerical results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed design over existing connected-chain ensembles and over single-chain ensembles with the existing bit mapping design

Signal optimization for Galileo evolution

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) are present in our daily lives. Moreover, new users areemerging with further operation needs involving a constant evolution of the current navigationsystems. In the current framework of Galileo (GNSS European system) and especially within theGalileo E1 Open Service (OS), adding a new acquisition aiding signal could contribute to providehigher resilience at the acquisition phase, as well as to reduce the time to first fix (TTFF).Designing a new GNSS signal is always a trade-off between several performance figures of merit.The most relevant are the position accuracy, the sensitivity and the TTFF. However, if oneconsiders that the signal acquisition phase is the goal to design, the sensitivity and the TTFF havea higher relevance. Considering that, in this thesis it is presented the joint design of a GNSS signaland the message structure to propose a new Galileo 2nd generation signal, which provides ahigher sensitivity in the receiver and reduce the TTFF. Several aspects have been addressed inorder to design a new signal component. Firstly, the spreading modulation definition must considerthe radio frequency compatibility in order to cause acceptable level of interference inside the band.Moreover, the spreading modulation should provide good correlation properties and goodresistance against the multipath in order to enhance the receiver sensitivity and to reduce theTTFF. Secondly, the choice of the new PRN code is also crucial in order to ease the acquisitionphase. A simple model criterion based on a weighted cost function is used to evaluate the PRNcodes performance. This weighted cost function takes into account different figures of merit suchas the autocorrelation, the cross-correlation and the power spectral density. Thirdly, the design ofthe channel coding scheme is always connected with the structure of the message. A joint designbetween the message structure and the channel coding scheme can provide both, reducing theTTFF and an enhancement of the resilience of the decoded data. In this this, a new method to codesign the message structure and the channel coding scheme for the new G2G signal isproposed. This method provides the guideline to design a message structure whose the channelcoding scheme is characterized by the full diversity, the Maximum Distance Separable (MDS) andthe rate compatible properties. The channel coding is essential in order to enhance the datademodulation performance, especially in harsh environments. However, this process can be verysensitive to the correct computation of the decoder input. Significant improvements were obtainedby considering soft inputs channel decoders, through the Log Likelihood Ratio LLRs computation.However, the complete knowledge of the channel state information (CSI) was usually considered,which it is infrequently in real scenarios. In this thesis, we provide new methods to compute LLRlinear approximations, under the jamming and the block fading channels, considering somestatistical CSI. Finally, to transmit a new signal in the same carrier frequency and using the sameHigh Power Amplifier (HPA) generates constraints in the multiplexing design, since a constant orquasi constant envelope is needed in order to decrease the non-linear distortions. Moreover, themultiplexing design should provide high power efficiency to not waste the transmitted satellitepower. Considering the precedent, in this thesis, we evaluate different multiplexing methods,which search to integrate a new binary signal in the Galileo E1 band while enhancing thetransmitted power efficiency. Besides that, even if the work is focused on the Galileo E1, many ofthe concepts and methodologies can be easily extended to any GNSS signa