Fast decoding of the Leech lattice

An efficient algorithm is presented for maximum-likelihood soft-decision decoding of the Leech lattice. The superiority of this decoder with respect to both computational and memory complexities is demonstrated in comparison with previously published decoding methods. Gain factors in the range of 2-10 are achieved. The authors conclude with some more advanced ideas for achieving a further reduction of the algorithm complexity based on a generalization of the Wagner decoding method to two parity constraints. A comparison with the complexity of some trellis-coded modulation schemes is discussed. The decoding algorithm presented seems to achieve a computational complexity comparable to that of the equivalent trellis codes. >