Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

International Symposium on Information Theory and its Applications

Detailed evaluation of error floors of LDPC codes using the probabilistic algorithm

Masanori Hirotomo, Masakatu Morii

Published Oct 1, 2010• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The performance of LDPC codes decoded by iterative algorithm depends on the structural properties of their underlying Tanner graphs. For discrete memoryless channels, error patterns dominating the frame error rate (FER) in the error floor region are termed trapping set. We have shown approximate examinations of small trapping sets of LDPC codes using the probabilistic algorithm. In this paper, we propose an efficient method for the detailed evaluation of the FER of LDPC codes in the error floor region. The accuracy of the FER lies on the failure probability of the number of trapping sets determined by our probabilistic algorithm and the FER estimated by the importance sampling.

DOI
10.1109/isita.2010.5654357

Related papers

Approximate examination of trapping sets of LDPC codes using the probabilistic algorithm

Masanori Hirotomo, Yoshiho Konishi, Masakatu Morii

The performance of LDPC codes decoded by iterative algorithms depends on the structural properties of their underlying Tanner graphs. For general memoryless channels, error patterns dominating the bit and frame error probabilities at the error floor region are termed trapping sets. In this paper, we propose an effective method for finding small-size trapping sets of LDPC codes. In the proposed method, a probabilistic algorithm to find low-weight codewords is applied to finding small trapping sets of LDPC codes. Furthermore, we show numerical results of examining small trapping sets of (504, 252) and (1008, 504) LDPC codes.

International Symposium on Information Theory and its Applications•Dec 1, 2008•14 citations

Analysis of failures of decoders for LDPC codes

Shashi Kiran Chilappagari

Ever since the publication of Shannon's seminal work in 1948, the search for capacity achieving codes has led to many interesting discoveries in channel coding theory. Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes originally proposed in 1963 were largely forgotten and rediscovered recently. The significance of LDPC codes lies in their capacity approaching performance even when decoded using low complexity sub-optimal decoding algorithms. Iterative decoders are one such class of decoders that work on a graphical representation of a code known as the Tanner graph. Their properties have been well understood in the asymptotic limit of the code length going to infinity. However, the behavior of various decoders for a given finite length code remains largely unknown.An understanding of the failures of the decoders is vital for the error floor analysis of a given code. Broadly speaking, error floor is the abrupt degradation in the frame error rate (FER) performance of a code in the high signal-to-noise ratio domain. Since the error floor phenomenon manifests in the regions not reachable by Monte-Carlo simulations, analytical methods are necessary for characterizing the decoding failures. In this work, we consider hard decision decoders for transmission over the binary symmetric channel (BSC).For column-weight-three codes, we provide tight upper and lower bounds on the guaranteed error correction capability of a code under the Gallager A algorithm by studying combinatorial objects known as trapping sets. For higher column weight codes, we establish bounds on the minimum number of variable nodes that achieve certain expansion as a function of the girth of the underlying Tanner graph, thereby obtaining lower bounds on the guaranteed error correction capability. We explore the relationship between a class of graphs known as cage graphs and trapping sets to establish upper bounds on the error correction capability.We also propose an algorithm to identify the most probable noise configurations, also known as instantons, that lead to error floor for linear programming (LP) decoding over the BSC. With the insight gained from the above analysis techniques, we propose novel code construction techniques that result in codes with superior error floor performance.

•Jan 1, 2008•0 citations

Predicting error floors of structured LDPC codes: deterministic bounds and estimates

Lara Dolecek, P. Lee, Zhengya Zhang +3 more

The error-correcting performance of low-density parity check (LDPC) codes, when decoded using practical iterative decoding algorithms, is known to be close to Shannon limits for codes with suitably large blocklengths. A substantial limitation to the use of finite-length LDPC codes is the presence of an error floor in the low frame error rate (FER) region. This paper develops a deterministic method of predicting error floors, based on high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) asymptotics, applied to absorbing sets within structured LDPC codes. The approach is illustrated using a class of array-based LDPC codes, taken as exemplars of high-performance structured LDPC codes. The results are in very good agreement with a stochastic method based on importance sampling which, in turn, matches the hardware-based experimental results. The importance sampling scheme uses a mean-shifted version of the original Gaussian density, appropriately centered between a codeword and a dominant absorbing set, to produce an unbiased estimator of the FER with substantial computational savings over a standard Monte Carlo estimator. Our deterministic estimates are guaranteed to be a lower bound to the error probability in the high SNR regime, and extend the prediction of the error probability to as low as 10-30. By adopting a channel-independent viewpoint, the usefulness of these results is demonstrated for both the standard Gaussian channel and a channel with mixture noise.

IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications•Jul 29, 2009•94 citations

Evaluation of the Low Frame Error Rate Performance of LDPC Codes Using Importance Sampling

Lara Dolecek, Zhengya Zhang, Martin J. Wainwright +2 more

We present an importance sampling method for the evaluation of the low frame error rate (FER) performance of LDPC codes under iterative decoding. It relies on a combinatorial characterization of absorbing sets, which are the dominant cause of decoder failure in the low FER region. The biased density in the importance sampling scheme is a mean-shifted version of the original Gaussian density, which is suitably centered between a codeword and a dominant absorbing set. This choice of biased density yields an unbiased estimator for the FER with a variance lower by several orders of magnitude than the standard Monte Carlo estimator. Using this importance sampling scheme in software, we obtain good agreement with the experimental results obtained from a fast hardware emulator of the decoder.

IEEE Information Theory Workshop (ITW)•Sep 1, 2007•48 citations

Error floors in LDPC codes: Fast simulation, bounds and hardware emulation

Pamela Lee, Lara Dolecek, Zhengya Zhang +3 more

Abstract — The error-correcting performance of low-density parity check (LDPC) codes, when decoded using practical iterative decoding, is known to approach Shannon limits in the asymptotic limit of large blocklengths. A substantial limitation to the use of finite-length LDPC codes is the presence of an error floor in the low frame error rate (FER) region. This paper develops a method, based on importance sampling and high SNR asymptotics as applied to suitably defined absorbing structures within the LDPC code, to predict error floors. Our results are in very close agreement with hardware-based experimental results, and moreover extend the prediction of the error probability to even lower regions. We compute both importance sampling estimates of error probabilities and deterministic estimates that are guaranteed to lower bound the error probability in the high SNR regime. I.

IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT)•Jul 1, 2008•12 citations

A study on quick simulation for estimation of low FER of LDPC codes

Takakazu Sakai, Koji Shibata

This study shows a new design method of a simulation probability density function (PDF) for a fast frame error rate (FER) evaluation of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. It is difficult to evaluate a very low FER of LDPC codes by Monte Carlo simulation methods since it has excellent performance under iterative decoding. Cole et al. proposed a three-step estimation method of the low FER of LDPC codes of moderate block length. By applying the importance sampling method, which is one of the fast simulation methods, the simulation time of the error performance of LDPC codes can be reduced. Another simulation PDF, which can treat more dominant trapping sets (TS) than Cole et al.'s method, is proposed. The selection of the dominant TS as proportional to its probability reduces the number of simulation runs without deteriorating the accuracy of the estimator. Unbiased estimator is given as well as that that of the Cole et al.'s method. Some numerical examples are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The simulation time for an LDPC code of length 504 is reduced to 1/10 when we evaluate FER of around 10-14.

IEEE Malaysia International Conference on Communications (MICC)•Dec 1, 2009•3 citations
The performance of LDPC codes decoded by iterative algorithm depends on the structural properties of their underlying Tanner graphs. For discrete memoryless channels, error patterns dominating the frame error rate (FER) in the error floor region are termed trapping set. We have shown approximate examinations of small trapping sets of LDPC codes using the probabilistic algorithm. In this paper, we propose an efficient method for the detailed evaluation of the FER of LDPC codes in the error floor region. The accuracy of the FER lies on the failure probability of the number of trapping sets determined by our probabilistic algorithm and the FER estimated by the importance sampling.
The performance of LDPC codes decoded by iterative algorithms depends on the structural properties of their underlying Tanner graphs. For general memoryless channels, error patterns dominating the bit and frame error probabilities at the error floor region are termed trapping sets. In this paper, we propose an effective method for finding small-size trapping sets of LDPC codes. In the proposed method, a probabilistic algorithm to find low-weight codewords is applied to finding small trapping sets of LDPC codes. Furthermore, we show numerical results of examining small trapping sets of (504, 252) and (1008, 504) LDPC codes.
Ever since the publication of Shannon's seminal work in 1948, the search for capacity achieving codes has led to many interesting discoveries in channel coding theory. Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes originally proposed in 1963 were largely forgotten and rediscovered recently. The significance of LDPC codes lies in their capacity approaching performance even when decoded using low complexity sub-optimal decoding algorithms. Iterative decoders are one such class of decoders that work on a graphical representation of a code known as the Tanner graph. Their properties have been well understood in the asymptotic limit of the code length going to infinity. However, the behavior of various decoders for a given finite length code remains largely unknown.An understanding of the failures of the decoders is vital for the error floor analysis of a given code. Broadly speaking, error floor is the abrupt degradation in the frame error rate (FER) performance of a code in the high signal-to-noise ratio domain. Since the error floor phenomenon manifests in the regions not reachable by Monte-Carlo simulations, analytical methods are necessary for characterizing the decoding failures. In this work, we consider hard decision decoders for transmission over the binary symmetric channel (BSC).For column-weight-three codes, we provide tight upper and lower bounds on the guaranteed error correction capability of a code under the Gallager A algorithm by studying combinatorial objects known as trapping sets. For higher column weight codes, we establish bounds on the minimum number of variable nodes that achieve certain expansion as a function of the girth of the underlying Tanner graph, thereby obtaining lower bounds on the guaranteed error correction capability. We explore the relationship between a class of graphs known as cage graphs and trapping sets to establish upper bounds on the error correction capability.We also propose an algorithm to identify the most probable noise configurations, also known as instantons, that lead to error floor for linear programming (LP) decoding over the BSC. With the insight gained from the above analysis techniques, we propose novel code construction techniques that result in codes with superior error floor performance.
The error-correcting performance of low-density parity check (LDPC) codes, when decoded using practical iterative decoding algorithms, is known to be close to Shannon limits for codes with suitably large blocklengths. A substantial limitation to the use of finite-length LDPC codes is the presence of an error floor in the low frame error rate (FER) region. This paper develops a deterministic method of predicting error floors, based on high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) asymptotics, applied to absorbing sets within structured LDPC codes. The approach is illustrated using a class of array-based LDPC codes, taken as exemplars of high-performance structured LDPC codes. The results are in very good agreement with a stochastic method based on importance sampling which, in turn, matches the hardware-based experimental results. The importance sampling scheme uses a mean-shifted version of the original Gaussian density, appropriately centered between a codeword and a dominant absorbing set, to produce an unbiased estimator of the FER with substantial computational savings over a standard Monte Carlo estimator. Our deterministic estimates are guaranteed to be a lower bound to the error probability in the high SNR regime, and extend the prediction of the error probability to as low as 10-30. By adopting a channel-independent viewpoint, the usefulness of these results is demonstrated for both the standard Gaussian channel and a channel with mixture noise.
We present an importance sampling method for the evaluation of the low frame error rate (FER) performance of LDPC codes under iterative decoding. It relies on a combinatorial characterization of absorbing sets, which are the dominant cause of decoder failure in the low FER region. The biased density in the importance sampling scheme is a mean-shifted version of the original Gaussian density, which is suitably centered between a codeword and a dominant absorbing set. This choice of biased density yields an unbiased estimator for the FER with a variance lower by several orders of magnitude than the standard Monte Carlo estimator. Using this importance sampling scheme in software, we obtain good agreement with the experimental results obtained from a fast hardware emulator of the decoder.
Abstract — The error-correcting performance of low-density parity check (LDPC) codes, when decoded using practical iterative decoding, is known to approach Shannon limits in the asymptotic limit of large blocklengths. A substantial limitation to the use of finite-length LDPC codes is the presence of an error floor in the low frame error rate (FER) region. This paper develops a method, based on importance sampling and high SNR asymptotics as applied to suitably defined absorbing structures within the LDPC code, to predict error floors. Our results are in very close agreement with hardware-based experimental results, and moreover extend the prediction of the error probability to even lower regions. We compute both importance sampling estimates of error probabilities and deterministic estimates that are guaranteed to lower bound the error probability in the high SNR regime. I.
This study shows a new design method of a simulation probability density function (PDF) for a fast frame error rate (FER) evaluation of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. It is difficult to evaluate a very low FER of LDPC codes by Monte Carlo simulation methods since it has excellent performance under iterative decoding. Cole et al. proposed a three-step estimation method of the low FER of LDPC codes of moderate block length. By applying the importance sampling method, which is one of the fast simulation methods, the simulation time of the error performance of LDPC codes can be reduced. Another simulation PDF, which can treat more dominant trapping sets (TS) than Cole et al.'s method, is proposed. The selection of the dominant TS as proportional to its probability reduces the number of simulation runs without deteriorating the accuracy of the estimator. Unbiased estimator is given as well as that that of the Cole et al.'s method. Some numerical examples are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The simulation time for an LDPC code of length 504 is reduced to 1/10 when we evaluate FER of around 10-14.