Improved iterative soft-reliability-based majority-logic decoding algorithm for non-binary low-density parity-check codes

Non-binary low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have some advantages as opposed to their binary counterparts, but unfortunately their decoding complexity is a significant challenge. Hence, the iterative soft-reliability-based (ISRB) majority-logic decoding algorithm is attractive for non-binary LDPC codes, since it involves only finite field additions and multiplications as well as integer additions and comparisons. In this paper, we propose an improved ISRB majority-logic decoding algorithm by using a new reliability update. Our improved algorithm achieves better error performance and faster convergence, while further reducing the computational complexity. For instance, for a (16, 16)-regular (255, 175) cyclic Euclidean geometry LDPC code over GF(28), the proposed algorithm achieves a 0.15 dB coding gain and improves the convergence speed by 10% at a block error rate of 10−4 versus the ISRB majority-logic decoding algorithm. Compared with the ISRB majority-logic decoding algorithm, the proposed algorithm requires the same numbers of finite field additions and multiplications but fewer integer additions and comparisons. Furthermore, the ISRB majority-logic decoding algorithm is based on the accumulation of reliability information, and hence the numerical range of the reliability information increases with iterations. In contrast, the proposed reliability update has a fixed numerical range and thus simplifies hardware implementations.