Low-Complexity Rate- and Channel-Configurable Concatenated Codes

A low-complexity rate- and channel-configurable forward error-correction (FEC) scheme is proposed, consisting of an inner low-density parity-check code concatenated with an outer zipper code. A tool is developed to optimize a multi-level code architecture so that it can operate at multiple transmission rates, channel qualities, and modulation orders. The optimization criterion is selected to maintain a low estimated data-flow in its decoding operation. A hardware-friendly quasi-cyclic structure is considered for the inner code and the performance and complexity is reported for various designed FEC configurations. Compared to existing FEC schemes, the proposed designs deliver a similar performance with up to 63% reduction in decoding complexity or provide up to 0.6 dB coding gain at a similar decoding complexity.

Automated summary

The proposed FEC scheme consists of an inner LDPC code and an outer zipper code, optimized for multiple transmission rates, channel qualities, and modulation orders with a focus on low estimated data-flow in decoding operation. A hardware-friendly quasi-cyclic structure is used for the inner code, achieving similar performance to existing FEC schemes with reduced decoding complexity by up to 63% or providing up to 0.6 dB coding gain at similar decoding complexity.