CTH08-5: Efficient Encoding and Termination of Low-Density Parity-Check Convolutional Codes

Low-density parity-check convolutional codes (LDPC-CCs) have been shown to have similar capacity-approaching performance to LDPC block codes. Their encoder structure is simple and efficient. However, the encoder termination, which is required when applied to finite length data frames, increases the encoder complexity and reduces the effective code rate. The LDPC-CC encoding and termination problems are discussed in this paper. A novel all-phase termination scheme is proposed with less implementation complexity and less loss in code rate, compared to existing methods. Finally a system architecture for the LDPC-CC encoder with all-phase termination is given with some analyses.