A search for good convolutional codes to be used in theconstruction of turbo codes

Recursive systematic convolutional encoders have been shown to play a crucial role in the design of turbo codes. We recall some properties of binary convolutional encoders and apply them to a search for good constituent convolutional codes of turbo codes. Tables of the “best” recursive systematic convolutional encoders found are presented for various rates, together with the average bit-error probability performances of some turbo codes using them     

A note on tailbiting codes and their feedback encoders

Tailbiting codes encoded by feedback convolutional encoders are studied. A condition for when tailbiting will work is given and it is described how the encoder starting state can be obtained for feedback encoders in both controller and observer canonical forms. Finally, results from a search for systematic feedback encoders that encode tailbiting codes with good decoding bit error probabilities are presented     

Some notes on rate-compatible punctured turbo codes (RCPTC) design

In this letter, we propose and compare some design criteria for the search of good rate-compatible systematic turbo codes (RCPTC) families. The considerations presented by Benedetto et al. to find "best" component encoders for turbo-code construction are extended to find good rate-compatible puncturing patterns leading to codes with promising performances.     

Rate-compatible convolutional codes for multirate DS-CDMA systems

New rate-compatible convolutional (RCC) codes with high constraint lengths and a wide range of code rates are presented. These new codes originate from rate 1/4 optimum distance spectrum (ODS) convolutional parent encoders with constraint lengths 7-10. Low rate encoders (rates 115 down to 1/10) are found by a nested search, and high rate encoders (rates above 1/4) are found by rate-compatible puncturing. The new codes form rate-compatible code families more powerful and flexible than those previously presented. It is shown that these codes are almost as good as the existing optimum convolutional codes of the same fates. The effects of varying the design parameters of the rate-compatible punctured convolutional (RCPC) codes, i.e., the parent encoder rate, the puncturing period, and the constraint length, are also examined. The new codes are then applied to a multicode direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) system and are shown to provide good performance and rate-matching capabilities. The results, which are evaluated in terms of the efficiency for Gaussian and Rayleigh fading channels, show that the system efficiency increases with decreasing code rate     

Computer design of super-orthogonal space-time trellis codes

Super-orthogonal space-time trellis codes (SOSTTCs) designed by hand can significantly improve the performance of space-time trellis codes. This paper introduces a new representation of SOSTTCs based on a generator matrix that allows a systematic and exhaustive search of all possible codes. This will verify that some of the known codes are optimal, and provides a means to easily implement encoders and decoders with a large number of states without relying on a graphical representation. New codes with up to 256 states that outperform previously known codes are presented     

Nonsystematic turbo codes

In this paper, we introduce the concept of nonsystematic turbo codes and compare them with classical systematic turbo codes. Nonsystematic turbo codes can achieve lower error floors than systematic turbo codes because of their superior effective free distance properties. Moreover, they can achieve comparable performance in the waterfall region if the nonsystematic constituent encoder has a low-weight feedforward inverse. A uniform interleaver analysis is used to show that rate R=1/3 turbo codes using nonsystematic constituent encoders have larger effective free distances than when systematic constituent encoders are used. Also, mutual information-based transfer characteristics and extrinsic information transfer charts are used to show that rate R=1/3 turbo codes with nonsystematic constituent encoders having low-weight feedforward inverses achieve convergence thresholds comparable to those achieved with systematic constituent encoders. Catastrophic encoders, which do not possess a feedforward inverse, are shown to be capable of achieving low convergence thresholds by doping the code with a small fraction of systematic bits. Finally, we give tables of good nonsystematic turbo codes and present simulation results comparing the performance of systematic and nonsystematic turbo codes.     

Some new runlength-limited convolutional codes

This article presents a method to find convolutional codes with good translation properties by modifying the generator matrix of existing codes and using a bit modifier. Applying the method causes no loss in the error correcting performance and only slight modifications to the architecture of existing encoders and decoders. The new codes' maximal runs of both zeros and ones are constrained. It is shown that some of the new line codes are DC-free     

Woven convolutional codes .I. Encoder properties

Encoders for convolutional codes with large free distances can be constructed by combining several less powerful convolutional encoders. This paper is devoted to constructions in which the constituent convolutional codes are woven together in a manner that resembles the structure of a fabric. The general construction is called twill and it is described together with two special cases, viz., woven convolutional encoders with outer warp and with inner warp. The woven convolutional encoders inherit many of their structural properties, such as minimality and catastrophicity, from their constituent encoders. For all three types of woven convolutional codes upper and lower bounds on their free distances as well as lower bounds on the active distances of their encoders are derived     

The Minimum Distance of Turbo-Like Codes

Worst-case upper bounds are derived on the minimum distance of parallel concatenated turbo codes, serially concatenated convolutional codes, repeat-accumulate codes, repeat-convolute codes, and generalizations of these codes obtained by allowing nonlinear and large-memory constituent codes. It is shown that parallel-concatenated turbo codes and repeat-convolute codes with sub-linear memory are asymptotically bad. It is also shown that depth-two serially concatenated codes with constant-memory outer codes and sublinear-memory inner codes are asymptotically bad. Most of these upper bounds hold even when the convolutional encoders are replaced by general finite-state automata encoders. In contrast, it is proven that depth-three serially concatenated codes obtained by concatenating a repetition code with two accumulator codes through random permutations can be asymptotically good.      

Multiple-word correcting convolutional codes

Two classes of multiple-word correcting convolutional encoders are defined and analyzed. We obtain some conditions for these encoders to be noncatastrophic, and we describe ways to check the (word) minimum distance of the generated codes. The first class can easily be analyzed by algebraic means, but the redundancy of the corresponding codes is not arbitrarily iow. The codes generated by the second class of encoders may have a lower redundancy, but their analysis requires the use of a computer program.     

Design of Encoder and Decoder for LDPC Codes Using Hybrid H‐Matrix

Low‐density parity‐check (LDPC) codes have recently emerged due to their excellent performance. However, the parity check (H) matrices of the previous works are not adequate for hardware implementation of encoders or decoders. This paper proposes a hybrid parity check matrix which is efficient in hardware implementation of both decoders and encoders. The hybrid H‐matrices are constructed so that both the semi‐random technique and the partly parallel structure can be applied to design encoders and decoders. Using the proposed methods, the implementation of encoders can become practical while keeping the hardware complexity of the partly parallel decoder structures. An encoder and a decoder are designed using Verilog‐HDL and are synthesized using a 0.35 µm CMOS standard cell library.     

Designing fault-secure parallel encoders for systematic linear error correcting codes

We consider the open problem of designing fault-secure parallel encoders for various systematic linear ECC. The main idea relies on generating not only the check bits for error correction but also, separately and in parallel, the check bits for error detection. Then, the latter are compared against error detecting check bits which are regenerated from the error correcting check bits. The detailed design is presented for encoders for CRC codes. The complexity evaluation of FPGA implementations of encoders with various degrees of parallelism shows that their fault-secure versions compare favorably against their unprotected counterparts both with respect to complexity and the maximal frequency of operation. Future research will include the design of FS decoders for CRC codes as well as the generalization of the presented ideas to design of FS encoders and decoders for other systematic linear ECC like nonbinary BCH codes and Reed-Solomon codes.     

High-rate recursive convolutional codes for concatenated channel codes

This letter presents the results of the search for optimum punctured recursive convolutional codes (RCCs) of rate k/k+1, for k=2,...,8, suitable for concatenated channel codes whose constituent encoders are recursive, systematic convolutional codes. The mother codes that are punctured are rate-1/2 RCCs proposed for use in parallel and/or serial concatenation schemes. Extensive tables of systematic and nonsystematic puncturing patterns, optimized relative to various objective functions suitable for concatenated channel codes, are presented for several mother codes.     

High-Speed Architectures for Parallel Long BCH Encoders

Long Bose–Chaudhuri–Hocquenghen (BCH) codes are used as the outer error correcting codes in the second-generation Digital Video Broadcasting Standard from the European Telecommunications Standard Institute. These codes can achieve around 0.6-dB additional coding gain over Reed–Solomon codes with similar code rate and codeword length in long-haul optical communication systems. BCH encoders are conventionally implemented by a linear feedback shift register architecture. High-speed applications of BCH codes require parallel implementation of the encoders. In addition, long BCH encoders suffer from the effect of large fanout. In this paper, three novel architectures are proposed to reduce the achievable minimum clock period for long BCH encoders after the fanout bottleneck has been eliminated. For an (8191, 7684) BCH code, compared to the original 32-parallel BCH encoder architecture without fanout bottleneck, the proposed architectures can achieve a speedup of over 100%.     

Transmission of nonuniform memoryless sources via nonsystematic turbo codes

We investigate the joint source-channel coding problem of transmitting nonuniform memoryless sources over binary phase-shift keying-modulated additive white Gaussian noise and Rayleigh fading channels via turbo codes. In contrast to previous work, recursive nonsystematic convolutional encoders are proposed as the constituent encoders for heavily biased sources. We prove that under certain conditions, and when the length of the input source sequence tends to infinity, the encoder state distribution and the marginal output distribution of each constituent recursive convolutional encoder become asymptotically uniform, regardless of the degree of source nonuniformity. We also give a conjecture (which is empirically validated) on the condition for the higher order distribution of the encoder output to be asymptotically uniform, irrespective of the source distribution. Consequently, these conditions serve as design criteria for the choice of good encoder structures. As a result, the outputs of our selected nonsystematic turbo codes are suitably matched to the channel input, since a uniformly distributed input maximizes the channel mutual information, and hence, achieves capacity. Simulation results show substantial gains by the nonsystematic codes over previously designed systematic turbo codes; furthermore, their performance is within 0.74-1.17 dB from the Shannon limit. Finally, we compare our joint source-channel coding system with two tandem schemes which employ a fourth-order Huffman code (performing near-optimal data compression) and a turbo code that either gives excellent waterfall bit-error rate (BER) performance or good error-floor performance. At the same overall transmission rate, our system offers robust and superior performance at low BERs (< 10/sup -4/), while its complexity is lower.     

System-theoretic properties of convolutional codes over rings

Convolutional codes over rings are particularly suitable for representing codes over phase-modulation signals. In order to develop a complete structural analysis of this class of codes, it is necessary to study rational matrices over rings, which constitutes the generator matrices (encoders) for such convolutional codes. Noncatastrophic, minimal, systematic, and basic generator matrices are introduced and characterized by using a canonical form for polynomial matrices over rings. Finally, some classes of convolutional codes, defined according to the generator matrix they admit, are introduced and analyzed from a system-theoretic point of view     

一种准静态平坦衰落信道下空时编码设计的新方法

空时码在准静态平坦瑞利衰落信道下的设计准则被广泛采用的是秩准则和行列式准则,但这些准则并不是很紧的。为此,提出了准静态平坦瑞利衰落信道下一种新的更紧的设计准则,采用这种准则还大大降低了穷举搜索空时好码的复杂度,仿真结果表明,搜索得到的空时好码性能优于现有的其它好码。     

Bolt interleavers for turbo codes

A procedure is described to produce efficient turbo-code interleavers. It is well suited to the selection of interleavers that produce a large minimum distance for the resulting turbo codes. A feature of these interleavers is that the final state of the two elementary encoders is simultaneously zero. Examples are given and the corresponding codes are simulated. They seem to be among the best ones for rate 1/3 turbo codes.     

Eliminating the fanout bottleneck in parallel long BCH encoders

Long BCH codes can achieve about 0.6-dB additional coding gain over Reed-Solomon codes with similar code rate in long-haul optical communication systems. BCH encoders are conventionally implemented by a linear feedback shift register architecture. Encoders of long BCH codes may suffer from the effect of large fanout, which may reduce the achievable clock speed. The data rate requirement of optical applications require parallel implementations of the BCH encoders. In this paper, a novel scheme based on look-ahead computation and retiming is proposed to eliminate the effect of large fanout in parallel long BCH encoders. For a (2047, 1926) code, compared to the original parallel BCH encoder architecture, the modified architecture can achieve a speedup of 132%.     

On Unequal Error Protection of Convolutional Codes From an Algebraic Perspective

In this paper, convolutional codes are studied for unequal error protection (UEP) from an algebraic theoretical viewpoint. We first show that for every convolutional code there exists at least one optimal generator matrix with respect to UEP. The UEP optimality of convolutional encoders is then combined with several algebraic properties, e.g., systematic, basic, canonical, and minimal, to establish the fundamentals of convolutional codes for UEP. In addition, a generic lower bound on the length of a UEP convolutional code is proposed. Good UEP codes with their lengths equal to the derived lower bound are obtained by computer search.