Improved Convolutional Precoder for PAC Codes

Convolutional precoding in polarization-adjusted convolutional (PAC) codes, a recently introduced variant of polar codes, has demonstrated an effective reduction in the number of minimum weight codewords (a.k.a error coefficient) of polar codes. This reduction has the potential to significantly improve the error correction performance. From a codeword formation perspective in cosets, this reduction has a limitation in the PAC coding which depends on the rows of the generator matrix involved in the formation of codewords. To overcome this limitation, capitalizing on the understanding of the decomposition of minimum-weight codewords, this paper introduces a novel precoding scheme that strategically disrupts the formation of a majority of minimum-weight codewords. This scheme significantly enhances the error coefficient without compromising the minimum distance of the code. Through numerical analysis, we demonstrate a noteworthy reduction in error coefficients compared to PAC codes and polar codes, resulting in a remarkable improvement in the block error rate of short codes.