A very low complexity block turbo decoder for product codes

This paper presents a low complexity block turbo decoder for product codes. This new decoder, which has been derived from the near-optimum block turbo decoder is a very good compromise between complexity and performance. For performance evaluation, we have considered the [BCH(64,57,4)]/sup 2/ product code transmitted over a Gaussian channel using a QPSK modulation. The complexity of the new block turbo decoder is about ten times less than that of the near-optimum block turbo decoder for a coding gain degradation of only 0.7 dB.