Memory efficient column-layered decoder design for non-binary LDPC codes

Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes constructed over the Galois field GF(q) (q>;2), which are also called non-binary LDPC codes, are an extension of binary LDPC codes with significantly better performance. In this paper, an efficient column-layered decoding algorithm, which can reduce the message memory as well as the average number of iterations dramatically, is proposed for min-max decoding. In addition, a non-uniform quantization scheme is developed for reducing the word length while achieving similar performances compared to a conventional quantization scheme. Meanwhile, the corresponding decoder architecture is also proposed.