Flexible LDPC Decoder Architectures

Muhammad Awais,Carlo Condo

doi:10.1155/2012/730835

Muhammad Awais, Carlo Condo

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/730835

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Journal: VLSI Design	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2012
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 3.0

Affiliation: Polytechnic University of Turin

Abstract

Flexible channel decoding is getting significance with the increase in number of wireless standards and modes within a standard. A flexible channel decoder is a solution providing interstandard and intrastandard support without change in hardware. However, the design of efficient implementation of flexible low‐density parity‐check (LDPC) code decoders satisfying area, speed, and power constraints is a challenging task and still requires considerable research effort. This paper provides an overview of state‐of‐the‐art in the design of flexible LDPC decoders. The published solutions are evaluated at two levels of architectural design: the processing element (PE) and the interconnection structure. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of different design choices is carried out, and comparison is provided in terms of achieved flexibility, throughput, decoding efficiency, and area (power) consumption.

Highlights

With the word flexibility regarding channel decoding, we mean the ability of a decoder to support different types of codes, enabling its usage in a wide variety of situations
Similar to the turbo decoding message passing (TDMP) schedule is the vertical shuffle scheduling (VSS) [18]: while TDMP relies on horizontal divisions of the parity check matrix, VSS divides the horizontal layers into subblocks
An alternative or parallel approach is the usage of ASIPs, that greatly overcome the limitations of general purpose microprocessors and DSPs

Summary

Introduction

With the word flexibility regarding channel decoding, we mean the ability of a decoder to support different types of codes, enabling its usage in a wide variety of situations. This work gives an overview of the most remarkable techniques in context of flexible channel decoding. We will discuss design and implementation of two major functional blocks of flexible decoders: processing element (PE) and interconnection structure.

LDPC Decoding

Flexible Decoders

Processing Element

Design

Interconnection Structures

Findings

Conclusions