This study considers the optimisation of multi‐edge type low‐density parity‐check (MET‐LDPC) codes to maximise the decoding threshold. The authors propose an algorithm to jointly optimise the node degree distribution and the multi‐edge structure of MET‐LDPC codes for given values of the maximum number of edge‐types and maximum node degrees. This joint optimisation is particularly important for MET‐LDPC codes as it is not clear a priori which structures will be good. Using several examples, they demonstrate that the MET‐LDPC codes designed by the proposed joint optimisation algorithm exhibit improved decoding thresholds compared with previously reported MET‐LDPC codes.

The focus of this paper is on the analysis and design of Raptor codes using a multi-edge framework. In this regard, we first represent Raptor codes as multi-edge type (MET) low-density parity-check codes. This MET representation gives a general framework to analyze and design Raptor codes over a binary input additive white Gaussian noise channel using MET density evolution (MET-DE). We then consider a joint decoding scheme based on the belief propagation (BP) decoding for Raptor codes in the multi-edge framework, and analyze the convergence behavior of the BP decoder using MET-DE. In joint decoding of Raptor codes, the component codes corresponding to the inner code and the precode are decoded in parallel and provide information to each other. We also derive an exact expression for the stability of Raptor codes with joint decoding. We then propose an efficient Raptor code design method using the multi-edge framework, where we simultaneously optimize the inner code and the precode. Through density evolution analysis we show that the designed Raptor codes using the multi-edge framework outperform the existing Raptor codes in literature in terms of realized rates.

This paper considers density evolution for low-density parity-check (LDPC) and multi-edge type LDPC (MET-LDPC) codes over the binary input additive white Gaussian noise channel. We first analyze three single-parameter Gaussian approximations for density evolution and discuss their accuracy under several conditions, namely, at low rates, with punctured and degree-one variable nodes. We observe that the assumption of symmetric Gaussian distribution for the density-evolution messages is not accurate in the early decoding iterations, particularly at low rates and with punctured variable nodes. Thus, single-parameter Gaussian approximation methods produce very poor results in these cases. Based on these observations, we then introduce a new density evolution approximation algorithm for LDPC and MET-LDPC codes. Our method is a combination of full density evolution and a single-parameter Gaussian approximation, where we assume a symmetric Gaussian distribution only after density-evolution messages closely follow a symmetric Gaussian distribution. Our method significantly improves the accuracy of the code threshold estimation. Additionally, the proposed method significantly reduces the computational time of evaluating the code threshold compared with full density evolution thereby making it more suitable for code design.

A low-density parity-check (LDPC) code is a linear block code described by a sparse parity-check matrix, which can be efficiently represented by a bipartite Tanner graph. The standard iterative decoding algorithm, known as belief propagation, passes messages along the edges of this Tanner graph. Density evolution is an efficient method to analyze the performance of the belief propagation decoding algorithm for a particular LDPC code ensemble, enabling the determination of a decoding threshold. The basic problem addressed in this work is how to optimize the Tanner graph so that the decoding threshold is as large as possible. We introduce a new code optimization technique which involves the search space range which can be thought of as minimizing randomness in differential evolution or limiting the search range in exhaustive search. This technique is applied to the design of good irregular LDPC codes and multi-edge type LDPC codes.