Performance and complexity analysis of channel coding schemes for multi-Gbps wireless communications

In this paper, a trade-off analysis between concatenated codes consisting of a convolutional (CC) followed by a Reed-Solomon (RS) code versus low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes is presented. The analysis is based on a twofold criterion: coding gain for a target bit error rate (BER) of 10^-6 and required decoder hardware complexity for a target data throughput of 10 Gbps. Furthermore, we have investigated relevant parameters which directly impact an efficient hardware implementation as well as the error correction performance of the LDPC decoder. These parameters include an attenuation factor in the min-sum layered (MSL) decoding algorithm, the finite word length of soft information and an early-termination (ET) strategy. The error correction performances are evaluated for 16-QAM modulation over an independent Rayleigh fading channel. The complexity of the RS-CC and LDPC decoders is estimated based on synthesis results using an Infineon 40 nm CMOS design kit.