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Flexible LDPC Decoder Design for Multigigabit-per-Second Applications | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore

Flexible LDPC Decoder Design for Multigigabit-per-Second Applications


Abstract:

Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes are one of the most promising error-correcting codes approaching Shannon capacity and have been adopted in many applications. Howev...Show More

Abstract:

Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes are one of the most promising error-correcting codes approaching Shannon capacity and have been adopted in many applications. However, the efficient implementation of high-throughput LDPC decoders adaptable for various channel conditions still remains challenging. In this paper, a low-complexity reconfigurable VLSI architecture for high-speed LDPC decoders is presented. Shift-LDPC codes are incorporated within the design and have shown not only comparable decoding performance to computer-generated random codes but also high hardware efficiency in high-speed applications. The single-minimum Min-Sum decoding scheme and the nonuniform quantization scheme are explored to reduce the complexity of computing core and the memory requirement. The well-known Benes network is employed to construct the configurable permutation network to support multiple shift-LDPC codes with various code parameters. The ASIC implementation results of an (8192, 7168) (4, 32)-regular shift-LDPC decoder demonstrate a maximum decoding throughput of 3.6 Gbits/s at 16 iterations, which outperforms the state-of-the-art design for high-speed flexible LDPC decoders by many times with even less hardware.
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers ( Volume: 57, Issue: 1, January 2010)
Page(s): 116 - 124
Date of Publication: 24 March 2009

ISSN Information:

Author image of Chuan Zhang
Institute of VLSI Design, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, the National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Chuan Zhang (S'08) received the B.E. degree in microelectronics with minor in microcomputer application from Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 2006, where he is currently working toward the M.E. degree in VLSI design in the Institute of VLSI Design.
His current research interests include low-power high-speed VLSI design, specifically VLSI design for digital signal processing, digital communications (including error-co...Show More
Chuan Zhang (S'08) received the B.E. degree in microelectronics with minor in microcomputer application from Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 2006, where he is currently working toward the M.E. degree in VLSI design in the Institute of VLSI Design.
His current research interests include low-power high-speed VLSI design, specifically VLSI design for digital signal processing, digital communications (including error-co...View more
Author image of Zhongfeng Wang
Broadcom Corporation, Irvine, CA, USA
Zhongfeng Wang (M'00–SM'05) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 2000.
Upon finishing his graduate study, he was with Morphics Technology Incorporated for two years and then moved to National Semiconductor Corporation in 2002. From 2003 to 2007, he was an Assistant Professor with the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oregon S...Show More
Zhongfeng Wang (M'00–SM'05) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 2000.
Upon finishing his graduate study, he was with Morphics Technology Incorporated for two years and then moved to National Semiconductor Corporation in 2002. From 2003 to 2007, he was an Assistant Professor with the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oregon S...View more
Author image of Jin Sha
Institute of VLSI Design, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, the National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Jin Sha received the B.S. degree in physics and the Ph.D. degree in microelectronics from Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 2002 and 2007, respectively.
From 2007 to 2008, he was an ASIC Design Engineer with the Corporate Research and Development Group, OmniVision Technologies, Inc., Shanghai, China. He is currently an Assistant Professor with Nanjing University. His research interests include VLSI architectures and i...Show More
Jin Sha received the B.S. degree in physics and the Ph.D. degree in microelectronics from Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 2002 and 2007, respectively.
From 2007 to 2008, he was an ASIC Design Engineer with the Corporate Research and Development Group, OmniVision Technologies, Inc., Shanghai, China. He is currently an Assistant Professor with Nanjing University. His research interests include VLSI architectures and i...View more
Author image of Li Li
Institute of VLSI Design, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, the National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Li Li received the B.E. degree in electric engineering and automation and the Ph.D. degree in precision instrument from Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China, in 1996 and 2002, respectively.
After finishing her graduate study, she has been with the Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, where she is currently an Associate Professor. She has published numerous technical papers and coauthored two b...Show More
Li Li received the B.E. degree in electric engineering and automation and the Ph.D. degree in precision instrument from Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China, in 1996 and 2002, respectively.
After finishing her graduate study, she has been with the Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, where she is currently an Associate Professor. She has published numerous technical papers and coauthored two b...View more
Author image of Jun Lin
Institute of VLSI Design, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, the National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Jun Lin received the B.S. degree in physics from Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 2007, where he is currently working toward the M.S. degree in microelectronics.
His research interests include VLSI architectures and algorithm design for communication protocols, coding theory applications, and cryptology.
Jun Lin received the B.S. degree in physics from Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 2007, where he is currently working toward the M.S. degree in microelectronics.
His research interests include VLSI architectures and algorithm design for communication protocols, coding theory applications, and cryptology.View more

I. Introduction

Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, which were originally introduced by Gallager in his Ph.D. dissertation in the early 1960s [1], have been ignored for a long time for the requirement of high-complexity computation. Since their rediscovery by MacKay and Neal [2], [3], LDPC codes have become one of the most attractive topics of interest in both academia and industry. Compared with turbo codes, LDPC codes are well suited for wireless, optical, and magnetic recording systems due to their near-Shannon-limit error-correcting capacity, low error floor, reasonable implementation complexity, as well as high intrinsic degrees of parallelism. With these remarkable characteristics, LDPC codes have been recently adopted in several industrial standards such as wireless local area networks (IEEE 802.11n) [4], wireless metropolitan area networks (IEEE 802.16e) [5], China's Digital Television Terrestrial Broadcasting standards (DTTB) [6], and Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite-Second Generation (DVB-S2) [7].

Author image of Chuan Zhang
Institute of VLSI Design, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, the National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Chuan Zhang (S'08) received the B.E. degree in microelectronics with minor in microcomputer application from Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 2006, where he is currently working toward the M.E. degree in VLSI design in the Institute of VLSI Design.
His current research interests include low-power high-speed VLSI design, specifically VLSI design for digital signal processing, digital communications (including error-control coding), and cryptography.
Mr. Zhang was a recipient of the Merit Student Paper Award at the IEEE Asia Pacific Conference on Circuits and Systems in 2008.
Chuan Zhang (S'08) received the B.E. degree in microelectronics with minor in microcomputer application from Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 2006, where he is currently working toward the M.E. degree in VLSI design in the Institute of VLSI Design.
His current research interests include low-power high-speed VLSI design, specifically VLSI design for digital signal processing, digital communications (including error-control coding), and cryptography.
Mr. Zhang was a recipient of the Merit Student Paper Award at the IEEE Asia Pacific Conference on Circuits and Systems in 2008.View more
Author image of Zhongfeng Wang
Broadcom Corporation, Irvine, CA, USA
Zhongfeng Wang (M'00–SM'05) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 2000.
Upon finishing his graduate study, he was with Morphics Technology Incorporated for two years and then moved to National Semiconductor Corporation in 2002. From 2003 to 2007, he was an Assistant Professor with the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis. He is currently a Senior Principal Scientist with Broadcom Corporation, Irvine, CA. He has published about 100 technical papers and has filed numerous U.S. patent applications. His current research interests include the area of VLSI design for digital communication systems.
Dr. Wang was the recipient of the Best Student Paper Award at the IEEE Workshop on Signal Processing Systems in 1999 and a corecipient of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society VLSI Transactions Best Paper Award in 2007. He was an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems—Part I: Regular Papers and is an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems—Part II: Express Briefs and IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems. He has also served in many technical committees for IEEE and ACM conferences.
Zhongfeng Wang (M'00–SM'05) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 2000.
Upon finishing his graduate study, he was with Morphics Technology Incorporated for two years and then moved to National Semiconductor Corporation in 2002. From 2003 to 2007, he was an Assistant Professor with the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis. He is currently a Senior Principal Scientist with Broadcom Corporation, Irvine, CA. He has published about 100 technical papers and has filed numerous U.S. patent applications. His current research interests include the area of VLSI design for digital communication systems.
Dr. Wang was the recipient of the Best Student Paper Award at the IEEE Workshop on Signal Processing Systems in 1999 and a corecipient of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society VLSI Transactions Best Paper Award in 2007. He was an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems—Part I: Regular Papers and is an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems—Part II: Express Briefs and IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems. He has also served in many technical committees for IEEE and ACM conferences.View more
Author image of Jin Sha
Institute of VLSI Design, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, the National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Jin Sha received the B.S. degree in physics and the Ph.D. degree in microelectronics from Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 2002 and 2007, respectively.
From 2007 to 2008, he was an ASIC Design Engineer with the Corporate Research and Development Group, OmniVision Technologies, Inc., Shanghai, China. He is currently an Assistant Professor with Nanjing University. His research interests include VLSI architectures and integrated-circuit design for communications, coding theory applications, and image signal processing.
Jin Sha received the B.S. degree in physics and the Ph.D. degree in microelectronics from Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 2002 and 2007, respectively.
From 2007 to 2008, he was an ASIC Design Engineer with the Corporate Research and Development Group, OmniVision Technologies, Inc., Shanghai, China. He is currently an Assistant Professor with Nanjing University. His research interests include VLSI architectures and integrated-circuit design for communications, coding theory applications, and image signal processing.View more
Author image of Li Li
Institute of VLSI Design, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, the National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Li Li received the B.E. degree in electric engineering and automation and the Ph.D. degree in precision instrument from Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China, in 1996 and 2002, respectively.
After finishing her graduate study, she has been with the Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, where she is currently an Associate Professor. She has published numerous technical papers and coauthored two books. She has filed for three Chinese invention patents. Her current research interests include the area of VLSI design for digital communication systems and multiprocessor system-on-a-chip architecture design.
Dr. Li was the recipient of the Excellent Faculty Award of Jiangsu Six Talent Peaks Project in 2004 and the Excellent Young Faculty Award of Nanjing University in 2006.
Li Li received the B.E. degree in electric engineering and automation and the Ph.D. degree in precision instrument from Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China, in 1996 and 2002, respectively.
After finishing her graduate study, she has been with the Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, where she is currently an Associate Professor. She has published numerous technical papers and coauthored two books. She has filed for three Chinese invention patents. Her current research interests include the area of VLSI design for digital communication systems and multiprocessor system-on-a-chip architecture design.
Dr. Li was the recipient of the Excellent Faculty Award of Jiangsu Six Talent Peaks Project in 2004 and the Excellent Young Faculty Award of Nanjing University in 2006.View more
Author image of Jun Lin
Institute of VLSI Design, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, the National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Jun Lin received the B.S. degree in physics from Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 2007, where he is currently working toward the M.S. degree in microelectronics.
His research interests include VLSI architectures and algorithm design for communication protocols, coding theory applications, and cryptology.
Jun Lin received the B.S. degree in physics from Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 2007, where he is currently working toward the M.S. degree in microelectronics.
His research interests include VLSI architectures and algorithm design for communication protocols, coding theory applications, and cryptology.View more

References

References is not available for this document.