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Using Linear Programming to Decode Linear Codes

Jon Feldman, Martin J. Wainwright, David Ron Karger

Published Jan 1, 2003• 34 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Abstract — Given a linear code and observations from a noisy channel, the decoding problem is to determine the most likely (ML) codeword. We describe a method for approximate ML decoding of an arbitrary binary linear code, based on a linear programming (LP) relaxation that is defined by a factor graph or parity check representation of the code. The resulting LP decoder, which generalizes our previous work on turbo-like codes [FK02, FWK02], has the ML certificate property: it either outputs the ML codeword with a guarantee of correctness, or acknowledges an error. We provide a precise characterization of when the LP decoder succeeds, based on the cost of pseudocodewords associated with the factor graph. We introduce the notion of the fractional distance δ of a code, defined with respect to a particular LP relaxation, and prove that the LP decoder will correct up to [δ/2] − 1 errors. For the BEC, we prove that the performance of LP decoding is equivalent to standard iterative decoding. I.

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Using Linear Programming to Decode Binary Linear Codes

J. Feldman, Martin J. Wainwright, David Ron Karger

A new method is given for performing approximate maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding of an arbitrary binary linear code based on observations received from any discrete memoryless symmetric channel. The decoding algorithm is based on a linear programming (LP) relaxation that is defined by a factor graph or parity-check representation of the code. The resulting "LP decoder" generalizes our previous work on turbo-like codes. A precise combinatorial characterization of when the LP decoder succeeds is provided, based on pseudocodewords associated with the factor graph. Our definition of a pseudocodeword unifies other such notions known for iterative algorithms, including "stopping sets," "irreducible closed walks," "trellis cycles," "deviation sets," and "graph covers." The fractional distance d/sub frac/ of a code is introduced, which is a lower bound on the classical distance. It is shown that the efficient LP decoder will correct up to /spl lceil/d/sub frac//2/spl rceil/-1 errors and that there are codes with d/sub frac/=/spl Omega/(n/sup 1-/spl epsi//). An efficient algorithm to compute the fractional distance is presented. Experimental evidence shows a similar performance on low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes between LP decoding and the min-sum and sum-product algorithms. Methods for tightening the LP relaxation to improve performance are also provided.

IEEE Transactions on Information Theory•Feb 28, 2005•573 citations

Decoding error-correcting codes via linear programming

Jon Feldman, David Ron Karger

Abstract. Error-correcting codes are fundamental tools used to transmit digital infor-mation over unreliable channels. Their study goes back to the work of Hamming [Ham50] and Shannon [Sha48], who used them as the basis for the field of information theory. The problem of decoding the original information up to the full error-correcting potential of the system is often very complex, especially for modern codes that approach the theoretical limits of the communication channel. In this thesis we investigate the application of linear programming (LP) relaxation to the problem of decoding an error-correcting code. Linear programming relaxation is a standard technique in approximation algorithms and operations research, and is central to the study of efficient algorithms to find good (albeit suboptimal) solutions to very difficult optimization problems. Our new "LP decoders " have tight combinatorial characterizations of decoding success that can be used to analyze error-correcting performance. Furthermore, LP decoders have the desirable (and rare) property that whenever they output a result, it is guaranteed to be the optimal result: the most likely (ML) information sent over the channel. We refer to this property as the ML certificate property.

•Jan 1, 2003•225 citations

A Note on the Linear Programming Decoding of Binary Linear Codes for Multiple-Access Channel

Shunsuke Horii, Toshiyasu Matsushima, Shigeichi Hirasawa

In this paper, we develop linear-programming (LP) decoding for multiple-access channels with binary linear codes. For single-user channels, LP decoding has attracted much attention in recent years as a good approximation to maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding. We demonstrate how the ML decoding problem for multiple-access channels with binary linear codes can be formulated as an LP problem. This is not straightforward, because the objective function of the problem is generally a non-linear function of the codeword symbols. We introduce auxiliary variables such that the objective function is a linear function of these variables. The ML decoding problem then reduces to the LP problem. As in the case for single-user channels, we formulate the relaxed LP problem to reduce the complexity for practical implementation, and as a result propose a decoder that has the desirable property known as the ML certificate property (i.e., if the decoder outputs an integer solution, the solution is guaranteed to be the ML codeword). Although the computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is exponential in the number of users, we can reduce this complexity for Gaussian multiple-access channels. Furthermore, we compare the performance of the proposed decoder with a decoder based on the sum-product algorithm.

IEICE Transactions on Fundamentals of Electronics Communications and Computer Sciences•Jan 1, 2011•0 citations

Iterative Approximate Linear Programming Decoding of LDPC Codes With Linear Complexity

David Burshtein

The problem of low complexity linear programming (LP) decoding of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes is considered. An iterative algorithm, similar to min-sum and belief propagation, for efficient approximate solution of this problem was proposed by Vontobel and Koetter. In this paper, the convergence rate and computational complexity of this algorithm are studied using a scheduling scheme that we propose. In particular, we are interested in obtaining a feasible vector in the LP decoding problem that is close to optimal in the following sense. The distance, normalized by the block length, between the minimum and the objective function value of this approximate solution can be made arbitrarily small. It is shown that such a feasible vector can be obtained with a computational complexity which scales linearly with the block length. Combined with previous results that have shown that the LP decoder can correct some fixed fraction of errors we conclude that this error correction can be achieved with linear computational complexity. This is achieved by first applying the iterative LP decoder that decodes the correct transmitted codeword up to an arbitrarily small fraction of erroneous bits, and then correcting the remaining errors using some standard method. These conclusions are also extended to generalized LDPC codes.

IEEE Transactions on Information Theory•Oct 27, 2009•67 citations

An Efficient Pseudocodeword Search Algorithm for Linear Programming Decoding of LDPC Codes

Michael Chertkov, Mikhail Stepanov

In linear programming (LP) decoding of a low-density parity-check (LDPC) code one minimizes a linear functional, with coefficients related to log-likelihood ratios, over a relaxation of the polytope spanned by the codewords. In order to quantify LP decoding it is important to study vertexes of the relaxed polytope, so-called pseudocodewords. We propose a technique to heuristcally create a list of pseudocodewords close to the zero codeword and their distances. Our pseudocodeword-search algorithm starts by randomly choosing configuration of the noise. The configuration is modified through a discrete number of steps. Each step consists of two substeps: one applies an LP decoder to the noise-configuration deriving a pseudocodeword, and then finds configuration of the noise equidistant from the pseudocodeword and the zero codeword. The resulting noise configuration is used as an entry for the next step. The iterations converge rapidly to a pseudocodeword neighboring the zero codeword. Repeated many times, this procedure is characterized by the distribution function of the pseudocodeword effective distance. The efficiency of the procedure is demonstrated on examples of the Tanner code and Margulis codes operating over an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel.

arXiv:cs/0601113•IEEE Transactions on Information Theory•Mar 27, 2008•56 citations

Linear-Programming Decoding of Nonbinary Linear Codes

Mark F. Flanagan, Vitaly Skachek, Eimear Byrne +1 more

A framework for linear-programming (LP) decoding of nonbinary linear codes over rings is developed. This framework facilitates LP-based reception for coded modulation systems which use direct modulation mapping of coded symbols. It is proved that the resulting LP decoder has the ldquomaximum-likelihood (ML) certificaterdquo property. It is also shown that the decoder output is the lowest cost pseudocodeword. Equivalence between pseudocodewords of the linear program and pseudocodewords of graph covers is proved. It is also proved that if the modulator-channel combination satisfies a particular symmetry condition, the codeword error rate performance is independent of the transmitted codeword. Two alternative polytopes for use with LP decoding are studied, and it is shown that for many classes of codes these polytopes yield a complexity advantage for decoding. These polytope representations lead to polynomial-time decoders for a wide variety of classical nonbinary linear codes. LP decoding performance is illustrated for ternary Golay code with ternary phase-shift keying (PSK) modulation over additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), and in this case it is shown that the performance of the LP decoder is comparable to codeword-error-rate-optimum hard-decision-based decoding. LP decoding is also simulated for medium-length ternary and quaternary low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes with corresponding PSK modulations over AWGN.

arXiv:0707.4360•IEEE Transactions on Information Theory•Aug 24, 2009•66 citations
Abstract — Given a linear code and observations from a noisy channel, the decoding problem is to determine the most likely (ML) codeword. We describe a method for approximate ML decoding of an arbitrary binary linear code, based on a linear programming (LP) relaxation that is defined by a factor graph or parity check representation of the code. The resulting LP decoder, which generalizes our previous work on turbo-like codes [FK02, FWK02], has the ML certificate property: it either outputs the ML codeword with a guarantee of correctness, or acknowledges an error. We provide a precise characterization of when the LP decoder succeeds, based on the cost of pseudocodewords associated with the factor graph. We introduce the notion of the fractional distance δ of a code, defined with respect to a particular LP relaxation, and prove that the LP decoder will correct up to [δ/2] − 1 errors. For the BEC, we prove that the performance of LP decoding is equivalent to standard iterative decoding. I.
A new method is given for performing approximate maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding of an arbitrary binary linear code based on observations received from any discrete memoryless symmetric channel. The decoding algorithm is based on a linear programming (LP) relaxation that is defined by a factor graph or parity-check representation of the code. The resulting "LP decoder" generalizes our previous work on turbo-like codes. A precise combinatorial characterization of when the LP decoder succeeds is provided, based on pseudocodewords associated with the factor graph. Our definition of a pseudocodeword unifies other such notions known for iterative algorithms, including "stopping sets," "irreducible closed walks," "trellis cycles," "deviation sets," and "graph covers." The fractional distance d/sub frac/ of a code is introduced, which is a lower bound on the classical distance. It is shown that the efficient LP decoder will correct up to /spl lceil/d/sub frac//2/spl rceil/-1 errors and that there are codes with d/sub frac/=/spl Omega/(n/sup 1-/spl epsi//). An efficient algorithm to compute the fractional distance is presented. Experimental evidence shows a similar performance on low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes between LP decoding and the min-sum and sum-product algorithms. Methods for tightening the LP relaxation to improve performance are also provided.
Abstract. Error-correcting codes are fundamental tools used to transmit digital infor-mation over unreliable channels. Their study goes back to the work of Hamming [Ham50] and Shannon [Sha48], who used them as the basis for the field of information theory. The problem of decoding the original information up to the full error-correcting potential of the system is often very complex, especially for modern codes that approach the theoretical limits of the communication channel. In this thesis we investigate the application of linear programming (LP) relaxation to the problem of decoding an error-correcting code. Linear programming relaxation is a standard technique in approximation algorithms and operations research, and is central to the study of efficient algorithms to find good (albeit suboptimal) solutions to very difficult optimization problems. Our new "LP decoders " have tight combinatorial characterizations of decoding success that can be used to analyze error-correcting performance. Furthermore, LP decoders have the desirable (and rare) property that whenever they output a result, it is guaranteed to be the optimal result: the most likely (ML) information sent over the channel. We refer to this property as the ML certificate property.
In this paper, we develop linear-programming (LP) decoding for multiple-access channels with binary linear codes. For single-user channels, LP decoding has attracted much attention in recent years as a good approximation to maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding. We demonstrate how the ML decoding problem for multiple-access channels with binary linear codes can be formulated as an LP problem. This is not straightforward, because the objective function of the problem is generally a non-linear function of the codeword symbols. We introduce auxiliary variables such that the objective function is a linear function of these variables. The ML decoding problem then reduces to the LP problem. As in the case for single-user channels, we formulate the relaxed LP problem to reduce the complexity for practical implementation, and as a result propose a decoder that has the desirable property known as the ML certificate property (i.e., if the decoder outputs an integer solution, the solution is guaranteed to be the ML codeword). Although the computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is exponential in the number of users, we can reduce this complexity for Gaussian multiple-access channels. Furthermore, we compare the performance of the proposed decoder with a decoder based on the sum-product algorithm.
The problem of low complexity linear programming (LP) decoding of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes is considered. An iterative algorithm, similar to min-sum and belief propagation, for efficient approximate solution of this problem was proposed by Vontobel and Koetter. In this paper, the convergence rate and computational complexity of this algorithm are studied using a scheduling scheme that we propose. In particular, we are interested in obtaining a feasible vector in the LP decoding problem that is close to optimal in the following sense. The distance, normalized by the block length, between the minimum and the objective function value of this approximate solution can be made arbitrarily small. It is shown that such a feasible vector can be obtained with a computational complexity which scales linearly with the block length. Combined with previous results that have shown that the LP decoder can correct some fixed fraction of errors we conclude that this error correction can be achieved with linear computational complexity. This is achieved by first applying the iterative LP decoder that decodes the correct transmitted codeword up to an arbitrarily small fraction of erroneous bits, and then correcting the remaining errors using some standard method. These conclusions are also extended to generalized LDPC codes.
In linear programming (LP) decoding of a low-density parity-check (LDPC) code one minimizes a linear functional, with coefficients related to log-likelihood ratios, over a relaxation of the polytope spanned by the codewords. In order to quantify LP decoding it is important to study vertexes of the relaxed polytope, so-called pseudocodewords. We propose a technique to heuristcally create a list of pseudocodewords close to the zero codeword and their distances. Our pseudocodeword-search algorithm starts by randomly choosing configuration of the noise. The configuration is modified through a discrete number of steps. Each step consists of two substeps: one applies an LP decoder to the noise-configuration deriving a pseudocodeword, and then finds configuration of the noise equidistant from the pseudocodeword and the zero codeword. The resulting noise configuration is used as an entry for the next step. The iterations converge rapidly to a pseudocodeword neighboring the zero codeword. Repeated many times, this procedure is characterized by the distribution function of the pseudocodeword effective distance. The efficiency of the procedure is demonstrated on examples of the Tanner code and Margulis codes operating over an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel.
A framework for linear-programming (LP) decoding of nonbinary linear codes over rings is developed. This framework facilitates LP-based reception for coded modulation systems which use direct modulation mapping of coded symbols. It is proved that the resulting LP decoder has the ldquomaximum-likelihood (ML) certificaterdquo property. It is also shown that the decoder output is the lowest cost pseudocodeword. Equivalence between pseudocodewords of the linear program and pseudocodewords of graph covers is proved. It is also proved that if the modulator-channel combination satisfies a particular symmetry condition, the codeword error rate performance is independent of the transmitted codeword. Two alternative polytopes for use with LP decoding are studied, and it is shown that for many classes of codes these polytopes yield a complexity advantage for decoding. These polytope representations lead to polynomial-time decoders for a wide variety of classical nonbinary linear codes. LP decoding performance is illustrated for ternary Golay code with ternary phase-shift keying (PSK) modulation over additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), and in this case it is shown that the performance of the LP decoder is comparable to codeword-error-rate-optimum hard-decision-based decoding. LP decoding is also simulated for medium-length ternary and quaternary low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes with corresponding PSK modulations over AWGN.