SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENCODING AND DECODING USING A PLURALITY OF CONSTELLATIONS WITHIN A SINGLE FEC BLOCK

• US 20160336968A1
• Filed: 05/11/2015
• Published: 11/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2015
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Comtech EF Data (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comtech EF Data (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Inventors: Banister, Brian A.
• Application Number:
  US14/709,283
• Publication Number:
  US 20160336968A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/255 with Low Density Parity Check [LDPC] codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0041 Arrangements at the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0042 Encoding specially adapted to other signal generation operation, e.g. in order to reduce transmit distortions, jitter, or to improve signal shape H04L1/0067 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0045 Arrangements at the receiver end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0058 Block-coded modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/007 Unequal error protection for format H04L1/0078; for codes per se H03M13/35

Abstract

A method of data transmission and recovery over a communications channel comprising encoding, by an encoder, data using a forward error correction (FEC) code such that a plurality of encoded FEC frames results wherein each encoded FEC frame comprises a FEC codeword mapped to a plurality of symbols from a plurality of constellations, at least two of the constellations being different from one another, transmitting the encoded FEC frames across a communications channel using a transmitter, and decoding the received encoded FEC frames using a decoder at a receiver.

Claims

1. A method of data transmission and recovery over a communications channel comprising:

encoding, by an encoder, data using a forward error correction (FEC) code such that a plurality of encoded FEC frames results wherein each encoded FEC frame comprises a FEC codeword mapped to a plurality of symbols from a plurality of constellations, at least two of the constellations being different from one another;

transmitting the encoded FEC frames across a communications channel using a transmitter; and

decoding the received encoded FEC frames using a decoder at a receiver.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the FEC is an irregular low density parity check (LDPC) code, and wherein a choice of a first constellation for a first symbol is selected from a plurality of constellations based upon a variable node degree distributions of variable nodes that map to the first symbol.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein one or more data variable nodes of the codeword comprise a variable node degree that is different from a variable node degree of one or more parity variable nodes.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein a first variable node associated with a FEC codeword has a higher degree than a second variable node of the FEC codeword and a first symbol containing the first variable node is mapped using a first constellation having a different set of bit-plane capacities than a second constellation by which a second symbol containing the second variable node is mapped.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the FEC code is an LDPC code with uniform variable node degree distribution.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the FEC is a low density parity check (LDPC) code and a choice of a first constellation for a first symbol is selected from a plurality of constellations such that a rate of convergence for one or more variable nodes associated with a first symbol has an increased rate of convergence.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the decoding is constrained to increase a convergence rate of a predetermined portion of the variable nodes of the codeword.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising mapping symbols using at least three different constellations.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising iteratively decoding a codeword.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a necessary signal to nose ratio (SNR) of the communications channel is reduced by the encoding, mapping, and decoding.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising sequentially decoding of one or more symbols such that the decoding of additional symbols has an improved decoding quality.

12. A system of data transmission and recovery over a communications channel comprising:

an encoder configured to encode data using a forward error correction (FEC) code such that a plurality of encoded FEC frames results and each encoded FEC frame comprises a FEC codeword that is mapped to a plurality of symbols from a plurality of constellations, at least two of the constellations being different from one another;

a transmitter configured to transmit the encoded FEC frames across a communications channel; and

a receiver comprising a decoder configured to decode the received encoded FEC frames.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the FEC is an irregular low density parity check (LDPC) code, and wherein a choice of a first constellation for a first symbol is selected from a plurality of constellations based upon a variable node degree distributions of variable nodes that map to the first symbol.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein one or more data variable nodes of the codeword comprise a variable node degree that is different from a variable node degree of one or more parity variable nodes.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein a first variable node associated with a FEC codeword has a higher degree than a second variable node of the FEC codeword and a first symbol containing the first variable node is mapped using a first constellation having a different set of bit-plane capacities than a second constellation to which a second symbol containing the second variable node is mapped.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the FEC code is an LDPC code with uniform variable node degree distribution.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the FEC is a low density parity check (LDPC) code and a choice of a first constellation for a first symbol is selected from a plurality of constellations such that a rate of convergence for one or more variable nodes associated with a first symbol has an increased rate of convergence.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the decoder is constrained to increase a convergence rate of a predetermined portion of the variable nodes of the codeword.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the encoder is further configured to map symbols using at least three different constellations.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the decoder is further configured to iteratively decoding a codeword.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein a necessary signal to nose ratio (SNR) of the communications channel is reduced by the encoding, mapping, and decoding.

22. The system of claim 12, wherein the decoder is further configured to sequentially decode one or more symbols such that the decoding of additional symbols has an improved decoding quality.