Design and Efficient Hardware Implementation Schemes for Non-Quasi-Cyclic LDPC Codes

The design of a high-speed decoder using traditional partly parallel architecture for Non-Quasi-Cyclic (NQC) Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes is a challenging problem due to its high memory-block cost and low hardware utilization efficiency. In this paper, we present efficient hardware implementation schemes for NQC-LDPC codes. First, we propose an implementation-oriented construction scheme for NQC-LDPC codes to avoid memory-access conflict in the partly parallel decoder. Then, we propose a Modified Overlapped Message-Passing (MOMP) algorithm for the hardware implementation of NQC-LDPC codes. This algorithm doubles the hardware utilization efficiency and supports a higher degree of parallelism than that used in the Overlapped Message Passing (OMP) technique proposed in previous works. We also present single-core and multi-core decoder architectures in the proposed MOMP algorithm to reduce memory cost and improve circuit efficiency. Moreover, we introduce a technique called the cycle bus to further reduce the number of block RAMs in multi-core decoders. Using numerical examples, we show that, for a rate-2/3, length-15360 NQC-LDPC code with 8.43-dB coding gain for Binary Phase-Shift Keying (BPSK) in an Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel, the decoder with the proposed scheme achieves a 23.8%–52.6% reduction in logic utilization per Mbps and a 29.0%–90.0% reduction in message-memory bits per Mbps.