Rotationally invariant nonlinear trellis codes for two-dimensionalmodulation

A general parity-check equation is presented that defines rotationally invariant trellis codes of rate k/(k+1) for two-dimensional signal sets. This parity-check equation is used to find rate k/(k+1) codes for 4PSK, 8PSK, 16PSK, and QAM signal sets by systematic code searches. The MPSK codes exhibit smaller free Euclidean distances than nonrotationally invariant linear codes with the same number of states. However, since the nonlinear codes have a smaller number of nearest neighbors, their performance at moderate signal to noise ratios is close to that of the best linear codes. The rotationally invariant QAM codes with 8, 32, 64, and 256 states achieve the same free Euclidean distance as the best linear codes. Transparency of user information under phase rotations is accomplished either by conventional differential encoding and decoding, or by integrating this function directly into the code trellis     

Twin-stack decoding of recursive systematic convolutional codes

We present a method for soft-in/soft-out sequential decoding of recursive systematic convolutional codes. The proposed decoder, the twin-stack decoder, is an extension of the well-known ZJ stack decoder, and it uses two stacks. The use of the two stacks lends itself to the generation of soft outputs, and the decoder is easily incorporated into the iterative “turbo” configuration. Under thresholded decoding, it is observed that the decoder is capable of achieving near-maximum a posteriori bit-error rate performance at moderate to high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Also, in the iterative (turbo) configuration, at moderate SNRs (above 2.0 dB), the performance of the proposed decoder is within 1.5 dB of the BCJR algorithm for a 16-state, R=1/3, recursive code, but this difference narrows progressively at higher SNRs. The complexity of the decoder asymptotically decreases (with SNR) as 1/(number of states), providing a good tradeoff between computational burden and performance. The proposed decoder is also within 1.0 dB of other well-known suboptimal soft-out decoding techniques     

High-rate punctured convolutional self-doubly orthogonal codes for iterative threshold decoding

The puncturing technique allows obtaining high-rate convolutional codes from low-rate convolutional codes used as mother codes. This technique has been successfully applied to generate good high-rate convolutional codes which are suitable for Viterbi and sequential decoding. In this paper, we investigate the puncturing technique for convolutional self-doubly orthogonal codes (CSO/sup 2/C) which are decoded using an iterative threshold-decoding algorithm. Based on an analysis of iterative threshold decoding of the rate-R=b/(b+1) punctured systematic CSO/sup 2/C, the required properties of the rate-R=1/2 systematic convolutional codes (SCCs) used as mother codes are derived. From this analysis, it is shown that there is no need for the punctured mother codes to respect all the required conditions, in order to maintain the double orthogonality at the second iteration step of the iterative threshold-decoding algorithm. The results of the search for the appropriate rate-R=1/2 SCCs used as mother codes to yield a large number of punctured codes of rates 2/3/spl les/R/spl les/6/7 are presented, and some of their error performances evaluated.     

Block-coded M-PSK modulation over GF(M)

Channel codes where the redundancy is obtained not from parity symbols, but from expanding the channel signal-set, are addressed. They were initially proposed by G. Ungerboeck (1982) using a convolutional code. Here, a block coding approach is given. Rate m/(m+1) coded 2^m+1-ary phase-shift keying (PSK) is considered. The expanded signal-set is given the structure of a finite field. The code is defined by a square nonsingular circulant generator matrix over the field. Binary data are mapped on a dataword, of the same length as the codewords, over an additive subgroup of the field. The codes using trellises are described, and then the Viterbi algorithm for decoding is applied. The asymptotic coding gain ranges from 1.8 to 6.0 dB for QPSK going from blocklength 3 to 12. For 8-PSK, the gain is from 0.7 to 3.0 dB with blocklength 4 to 8. With only four states in the trellis, codes of any length for QPSK and 8-PSK are constructed, each having an asymptotic coding gain of 3.0 dB. Simulation results are presented. It is found that the bit-error rate performance at moderate signal-to-noise ratios is sensitive to the number of nearest and next-nearest neighbors     

Lee metric decoding of alternant codes over /spl Zopf//sub q/

A multi-stage Lee metric list decoding approach for alternant codes over /spl Zopf/(p/sup l/ )where p is prime and l/spl ges/2 is proposed. It is demonstrated that the error-correcting capability of such a decoding scheme increasingly surpasses that of a single-stage decoding approach as the length of the code and l increases.     

Efficient erasure correcting codes

We introduce a simple erasure recovery algorithm for codes derived from cascades of sparse bipartite graphs and analyze the algorithm by analyzing a corresponding discrete-time random process. As a result, we obtain a simple criterion involving the fractions of nodes of different degrees on both sides of the graph which is necessary and sufficient for the decoding process to finish successfully with high probability. By carefully designing these graphs we can construct for any given rate R and any given real number ϵ a family of linear codes of rate R which can be encoded in time proportional to ln(1/ϵ) times their block length n. Furthermore, a codeword can be recovered with high probability from a portion of its entries of length (1+ϵ)Rn or more. The recovery algorithm also runs in time proportional to n ln(1/ϵ). Our algorithms have been implemented and work well in practice; various implementation issues are discussed     

Bounds on a probability for the heavy tailed distribution and the probability of deficient decoding in sequential decoding

Although sequential decoding of convolutional codes gives a very small decoding error probability, the overall reliability is limited by the probability P_G of deficient decoding, the term introduced by Jelinek to refer to decoding failures caused mainly by buffer overflow. The number of computational efforts in sequential decoding has the Pareto distribution and it is this "heavy tailed" distribution that characterizes P_G. The heavy tailed distribution appears in many fields and buffer overflow is a typical example of the behaviors in which the heavy tailed distribution plays an important role. In this paper, we give a new bound on a probability in the tail of the heavy tailed distribution and, using the bound, prove the long-standing conjecture on P_G, that is, P_G ap constanttimes1/(sigma^rhoN^rho-1) for a large speed factor sigma of the decoder and for a large receive buffer size N whenever the coding rate R and rho satisfy E(rho)=rhoR for 0 les rho les 1     

Performance analysis of stack decoding on block coded modulation schemes using tree diagram

The channel encoder adds redundancy in a structured way to provide error control capability. Modulator converts the symbol sequences from the channel encoder into waveforms which are then transmitted over the channel. Usually channel coder and modulator are implemented independently one after the other. But in a band limited channel better coding gains without sacrificing signal power are achieved when coding is combined with modulation. Block Coded Modulation (BCM) is such a scheme that results from the combination of linear block codes and modulation. In this paper we are proposing a stack decoding of rate 2/3 and rate 1/2 BCM schemes using tree structure and performance is compared with the Viterbi decoding that uses trellis representation. Simulation result shows that at reasonable bit error rate stack decoder performance is just 0.2 to 0.5 dB inferior to that of Viterbi decoding. Since stack decoding is a near optimum decoding scheme and whose decoding procedure is adaptable to noise level, we can consider this method in place of Viterbi decoding which is optimum and its decoding complexity grows exponentially with large code lengths.     

Coded modulation in the block-fading channel: coding theorems and code construction

We consider coded modulation schemes for the block-fading channel. In the setting where a codeword spans a finite number N of fading degrees of freedom, we show that coded modulations of rate R bit per complex dimension, over a finite signal set /spl chi//spl sube//spl Copf/ of size 2/sup M/, achieve the optimal rate-diversity tradeoff given by the Singleton bound /spl delta/(N,M,R)=1+/spl lfloor/N(1-R/M)/spl rfloor/, for R/spl isin/(0,M/spl rfloor/. Furthermore, we show also that the popular bit-interleaved coded modulation achieves the same optimal rate-diversity tradeoff. We present a novel coded modulation construction based on blockwise concatenation that systematically yields Singleton-bound achieving turbo-like codes defined over an arbitrary signal set /spl chi//spl sub//spl Copf/. The proposed blockwise concatenation significantly outperforms conventional serial and parallel turbo codes in the block-fading channel. We analyze the ensemble average performance under maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding of the proposed codes by means of upper bounds and tight approximations. We show that, differently from the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and fully interleaved fading cases, belief-propagation iterative decoding performs very close to ML on the block-fading channel for any signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and even for relatively short block lengths. We also show that, at constant decoding complexity per information bit, the proposed codes perform close to the information outage probability for any block length, while standard block codes (e.g., obtained by trellis termination of convolutional codes) have a gap from outage that increases with the block length: this is a different and more subtle manifestation of the so-called "interleaving gain" of turbo codes.     

Transmission performance analysis of a new class of line codes for optical fiber systems

A family of mB(m+1)B binary, nonalphabetic, balanced line codes is presented that is suitable for high bit rate (>or=135 Mb/s) optical fiber transmission due to its relatively simple encoding and decoding rules. Here, B represents a block of m bits, where m is an odd number. The coding, decoding, and bit error rate (BER) performance of the codes are discussed. Statistical and spectral analysis for the specific case in which the number of bits, m, equals seven, is presented. This makes possible a detailed comparison of the proposed code with conventional 7B8B codes.<>     

Accumulate codes based on 1+D convolutional outer codes

A new construction of good, easily encodable, and soft-decodable codes is proposed in this paper. The construction is based on serially concatenating several simple 1+D convolutional codes as the outer code, and a rate-1 1/(1+D) accumulate code as the inner code. These codes have very low encoding complexity and require only one shift-forward register for each encoding branch. The input-output weight enumerators of these codes are also derived. Divsalar?s simple bound technique is applied to analyze the bit error rate performance, and to assess the minimal required signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for these codes to achieve reliable communication under AWGN channel. Simulation results show that the proposed codes can provide good performance under iterative decoding.     

Hamming metric decoding of alternant codes over Galois rings

The standard decoding procedure for alternant codes over fields centers on solving a key equation which relates an error locator polynomial and an error evaluator polynomial by a syndrome sequence. We extend this technique to decode alternant codes over Galois rings. We consider the module M={(a, b): as≡b mod x^r} of all solutions to the key equation where s is the syndrome polynomial and r, is the number of rows in a parity-check matrix for the code. In decoding we seek a particular solution (Σ, Ω)∈M which we prove can be found in a Grobner basis for M. We present an iterative algorithm which generates a Grobner basis modulo x^k+1 from a given basis modulo x^k. At the rth step, a Grobner basis for M is found, and the required solution recovered     

An efficient new technique for accurate bit error probabilityestimation of ZJ decoders

Sequential decoding is a very powerful decoding procedure for convolutional codes which is characterized as a sequential search for the correct transmitted path through a large decision tree with random node metrics. The authors present a new efficient technique for accurately estimating the bit error rates (BERs) of stack or Zigangirov-Jelinek (ZJ) sequential decoders for specific time-invariant convolutional codes. In contrast to a brute-force simulation approach, this method achieves computational efficiency by using a mean-translation importance sampling biasing method along with a set of easily checked rules which immediately eliminate the need of running the computationally intensive ZJ algorithm in a large number of simulation trials     

MAP decoding of convolutional codes using reciprocal dual codes

A new symbol-by-symbol maximum a posteriori (MAP) decoding algorithm for high-rate convolutional codes using reciprocal dual convolutional codes is presented. The advantage of this approach is a reduction of the computational complexity since the number of codewords to consider is decreased for codes of rate greater than 1/2. The discussed algorithms fulfil all requirements for iterative (“turbo”) decoding schemes. Simulation results are presented for high-rate parallel concatenated convolutional codes (“turbo” codes) using an AWGN channel or a perfectly interleaved Rayleigh fading channel. It is shown that iterative decoding of high-rate codes results in high-gain, moderate-complexity coding     

The Minimum Decoding Delay of Maximum Rate Complex Orthogonal Space–Time Block Codes

The growing demand for efficient wireless transmissions over fading channels motivated the development of space-time block codes. Space-time block codes built from generalized complex orthogonal designs are particularly attractive because the orthogonality permits a simple decoupled maximum-likelihood decoding algorithm while achieving full transmit diversity. The two main research problems for these complex orthogonal space-time block codes (COSTBCs) have been to determine for any number of antennas the maximum rate and the minimum decoding delay for a maximum rate code. The maximum rate for COSTBCs was determined by Liang in 2003. This paper addresses the second fundamental problem by providing a tight lower bound on the decoding delay for maximum rate codes. It is shown that for a maximum rate COSTBC for 2m - 1 or 2m antennas, a tight lower bound on decoding delay is r = (_m-1 ^2m) . This lower bound on decoding delay is achievable when the number of antennas is congruent to 0, 1, or 3 modulo 4. This paper also derives a tight lower bound on the number of variables required to construct a maximum rate COSTBC for any given number of antennas. Furthermore, it is shown that if a maximum rate COSTBC has a decoding delay of r where r < r les 2r, then r=2r. This is used to provide evidence that when the number of antennas is congruent to 2 modulo 4, the best achievable decoding delay is 2(_m-1 ^2m_).     

New rate-compatible punctured convolutional codes for Viterbidecoding

New good rate-P/(P+δ) rate-compatible punctured convolutional (RCPC) codes for 2⩽P⩽7 and 1⩽δ⩽(n-1)P were found and tabulated, These codes have been determined by iterative search based upon a criterion of maximizing the free distance and were generated by periodically puncturing their rate-1/n mother codes of memory 2⩽M⩽6 and n=2. These codes are expected to find their applications in unequal error protection schemes employing Viterbi decoding     

Lowest density MDS codes over extension alphabets

Let F be a finite field and b be a positive integer. A construction is presented of codes over the alphabet F/sup b/ with the following three properties: i) the codes are maximum-distance separable (MDS) over F/sup b/, ii) they are linear over F, and iii) they have systematic generator and parity-check matrices over F with the smallest possible number of nonzero entries. Furthermore, for the case F=GF(2), the construction is the longest possible among all codes that satisfy properties i)-iii).     

A maximum-likelihood soft-decision sequential decoding algorithmfor binary convolutional codes

We present a trellis-based maximum-likelihood soft-decision sequential decoding algorithm (MLSDA) for binary convolutional codes. Simulation results show that, for (2, 1, 6) and (2, 1, 16) codes antipodally transmitted over the AWGN channel, the average computational effort required by the algorithm is several orders of magnitude less than that of the Viterbi algorithm. Also shown via simulations upon the same system models is that, under moderate SNR, the algorithm is about four times faster than the conventional sequential decoding algorithm (i.e., stack algorithm with Fano metric) having comparable bit-error probability     

The serial concatenation of rate-1 codes through uniform random interleavers

Until the analysis of repeat accumulate codes by Divsalar et al. (1998), few people would have guessed that simple rate-1 codes could play a crucial role in the construction of "good" binary codes. We construct "good" binary linear block codes at any rate r<1 by serially concatenating an arbitrary outer code of rate r with a large number of rate-1 inner codes through uniform random interleavers. We derive the average output weight enumerator (WE) for this ensemble in the limit as the number of inner codes goes to infinity. Using a probabilistic upper bound on the minimum distance, we prove that long codes from this ensemble will achieve the Gilbert-Varshamov (1952) bound with high probability. Numerical evaluation of the minimum distance shows that the asymptotic bound can be achieved with a small number of inner codes. In essence, this construction produces codes with good distance properties which are also compatible with iterative "turbo" style decoding. For selected codes, we also present bounds on the probability of maximum-likelihood decoding (MLD) error and simulation results for the probability of iterative decoding error.     

Random double-bit error-correcting decomposable codes

For odd m, a family of decomposable [3·(2^m-1), 3·(2^m-1)-3m, 5] codes, based on |a+x|b+x|a+b+x| construction, are proposed. A simple high-speed decoding algorithm for these codes suitable for implementation in combinational circuits is described