A Novel Coding Scheme Based on GLD Codes for Cooperative Relay Networks

A novel coding scheme called the distributed generalized low-density (GLD) code is proposed for cooperative relay networks. In this scheme, each relay node decodes and forwards some of the constituent codes of the GLD code to cooperatively form a distributed GLD code using the partial error-detecting and error-correcting capabilities of the GLD code. Distributed GLD codes can easily be adjusted to the variation of the relay number while the overall code rate of the system is constant. At the destination, the soft information from different paths can be combined for the GLD decoder thus diversity gain and coding gain are achieved simultaneously. Verified by simulations, the scheme can obtain significant performance gains over the strategy without relay in quasi-static fading channels and the performance is further improved when more relays are employed.