We generalize the notion of the stopping redundancy in order to study the smallest size of a trapping set in Tanner graphs of linear block codes. In this context, we introduce the notion of the trapping redundancy of a code, which quantifies the relationship between the number of redundant rows in any parity-check matrix of a given code and the size of its smallest trapping set. Trapping sets with certain parameter sizes are known to cause error-floors in the performance curves of iterative belief propagation decoders, and it is therefore important to identify decoding matrices that avoid such sets. Bounds on the trapping redundancy are obtained using probabilistic and constructive methods, and the analysis covers both general and elementary trapping sets. Numerical values for these bounds are computed for the [2640,1320] Margulis code and the class of projective geometry codes, and compared with some new code-specific trapping set size estimates.
The trapping redundancy of a linear code is the number of rows of a smallest parity-check matrix such that no submatrix forms an $(a,b)$-trapping set. This concept was first introduced in the context of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes in an attempt to estimate the number of redundant rows in a parity-check matrix suitable for iterative decoding. Essentially the same concepts appear in other contexts as well such as robust syndrome extraction for quantum error correction. Among the known upper bounds on the trapping redundancy, the strongest one was proposed by employing a powerful tool i…
Most memories suffer from both permanent defects and intermittent random errors. The partitioned linear block codes (PLBC) were proposed by Heegard to efficiently mask stuck-at defects and correct random errors. The PLBC have two separate redundancy parts for defects and random errors. In this paper, we investigate the allocation of redundancy between these two parts. The optimal redundancy allocation will be investigated using simulations and the simulation results show that the PLBC can significantly reduce the probability of decoding failure in memory with defects. In addition, we will deri…
This letter studies the power-limited throughput of a communication system utilizing incremental redundancy (INR) hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ). We use some recent results on the achievable rates of finite-length codes to analyze the system performance. With codewords of finite length, we derive closed-form expressions for the outage probabilities of INR HARQ and study the throughput in the cases with variable-length coding. Moreover, we evaluate the effect of feedback delay on the throughput and derive sufficient conditions for the usefulness of the HARQ protocols, in terms of power-…
We investigate the stopping redundancy hierarchy of linear block codes and its connection to permutation decoding techniques. An element in the ordered list of stopping redundancy values represents the smallest number of possibly linearly dependent rows in any parity-check matrix of a code that avoids stopping sets of a given size. Redundant parity-check equations can be shown to have a similar effect on decoding performance as permuting the coordinates of the received codeword according to a selected set of automorphisms of the code. Based on this finding we develop new decoding strategies fo…
We study codes that can detect the exact number of deletions and insertions in concatenated binary strings. We construct optimal codes for the case of detecting up to $\del$ deletions. We prove the optimality of these codes by deriving a converse result which shows that the redundancy of our codes is asymptotically optimal in $\del$ among all families of deletion detecting codes, and particularly optimal among all block-by-block decodable codes. For the case of insertions, we construct codes that can detect up to $2$ insertions in each concatenated binary string.
The penalty incurred by imposing a finite delay constraint in lossless source coding of a memoryless source is investigated. It is well known that for the so-called block-to-variable and variable-to-variable codes, the redundancy decays at best polynomially with the delay, where in this case the delay is identified with the source block length or maximal source phrase length, respectively. In stark contrast, it is shown that for sequential codes (e.g., a delay-limited arithmetic code) the redundancy can be made to decay exponentially with the delay constraint. The corresponding redundancy-dela…
The serial concatenation of a repetition code with two or more accumulators has the advantage of a simple encoder structure. Furthermore, the resulting ensemble is asymptotically good and exhibits minimum distance growing linearly with block length. However, in practice these codes cannot be decoded by a maximum likelihood decoder, and iterative decoding schemes must be employed. For low-density parity-check codes, the notion of trapping sets has been introduced to estimate the performance of these codes under iterative message passing decoding. In this paper, we present a closed form finite l…
As sensing and instrumentation play an increasingly important role in systems controlled over wired and wireless networks, the need to better understand delay-sensitive communication becomes a prime issue. Along these lines, this article studies the operation of data links that employ incremental redundancy as a practical means to protect information from the effects of unreliable channels. Specifically, this work extends a powerful methodology termed sequential differential optimization to choose near-optimal block sizes for hybrid ARQ over erasure channels. In doing so, an interesting connec…
We propose a systematic design of protograph-based quasi-cyclic (QC) low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes with low error floor. We first characterize the trapping sets of such codes and demonstrate that the QC structure of the code eliminates some of the trapping set structures that can exist in a code with the same degree distribution and girth but lacking the QC structure. Using this characterization, our design aims at eliminating a targeted collection of trapping sets. Considering the parent/child relationship between the trapping sets in the collection, we search for and eliminate those …
Distributed computing systems implement redundancy to reduce the job completion time and variability. Despite a large body of work about computing redundancy, the analytical performance evaluation of redundancy techniques in queuing systems is still an open problem. In this work, we take one step forward to analyze the performance of scheduling policies in systems with redundancy. In particular, we study the pattern of shared servers among replicas of different jobs. To this end, we employ combinatorics and graph theory and define and derive performance indicators using the statistics of the o…
We prove that approximating the size of stopping and trapping sets in Tanner graphs of linear block codes, and more restrictively, the class of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, is NP-hard. The ramifications of our findings are that methods used for estimating the height of the error-floor of moderate- and long-length LDPC codes based on stopping and trapping set enumeration cannot provide accurate worst-case performance predictions.
The efficiency of a code is estimated by its redundancy $R$, while the complexity of a code is estimated by its average delay $\bar N$. In this work we construct word-based codes, for which $R \lesssim \bar N^{-5/3}$. Therefore, word-based codes can attain the same redundancy as block-codes while being much less complex. We also consider uniform on the output codes, the benefit of which is the lack of a running synchronization error. For such codes $\bar N^{-1} \lesssim R \lesssim \bar N^{-1}$, except for a case when all input symbols are equiprobable, when $R \leqslant \bar N^{-2}$ for infini…
In this paper, we present an explicit construction of list-decodable codes for single-deletion and single-substitution with list size two and redundancy 3log n+4, where n is the block length of the code. Our construction has lower redundancy than the best known explicit construction by Gabrys et al. (arXiv 2021), whose redundancy is 4log n+O(1).
We study an incremental redundancy (IR) cooperative coding scheme for wireless networks. To exploit the spatial diversity benefit we propose a cluster-based collaborating strategy for a quasi-static Rayleigh fading channel model and based on a network geometric distance profile. Our scheme enhances the network performance by embedding an IR cooperative coding scheme into an existing noncooperative route. More precisely, for each hop, we form a collaborating cluster of M-1 nodes between the (hop) sender and the (hop) destination. The transmitted message is encoded using a mother code and partit…
In this letter, we propose an adaptive SC (Successive Cancellation)-List decoder for polar codes with CRC. This adaptive SC-List decoder iteratively increases the list size until the decoder outputs contain at least one survival path which can pass CRC. Simulation shows that the adaptive SC-List decoder provides significant complexity reduction. We also demonstrate that polar code (2048, 1024) with 24-bit CRC decoded by our proposed adaptive SC-List decoder with very large list size can achieve a frame error rate FER=0.001 at Eb/No=1.1dB, which is about 0.2dB from the information theoretic lim…
We introduce the notion of the stopping redundancy hierarchy of a linear block code as a measure of the trade-off between performance and complexity of iterative decoding for the binary erasure channel. We derive lower and upper bounds for the stopping redundancy hierarchy via Lovasz's Local Lemma and Bonferroni-type inequalities, and specialize them for codes with cyclic parity-check matrices. Based on the observed properties of parity-check matrices with good stopping redundancy characteristics, we develop a novel decoding technique, termed automorphism group decoding, that combines iterativ…
Incremental redundancy with ACK/NACK feedback produces a variable-length stop-feedback (VLSF) code constrained to have $m$ decoding times, with an ACK/NACK feedback to the transmitter at each decoding time. This paper focuses on the numerical evaluation of the maximal achievable rate of random VLSF codes as a function of $m$ for the binary-input additive white Gaussian noise channel, binary symmetric channel, and binary erasure channel (BEC). Leveraging Edgeworth and Petrov expansions, we develop tight approximations to the tail probability of length-$n$ cumulative information density that are…
It is known that for memoryless sources, the average and maximal redundancy of fixed-to-variable length codes, such as the Shannon and Huffman codes, exhibit two modes of behavior for long blocks. It either converges to a limit or it has an oscillatory pattern, depending on the irrationality or rationality, respectively, of certain parameters that depend on the source. In this paper, we extend these findings, concerning the Shannon code, to the case of a Markov source, which is considerably more involved. While this dichotomy, of convergent vs. oscillatory behavior, is well known in other cont…
Low density parity-check (LDPC) codes are a class of linear block codes that are decoded by running belief propagation (BP) algorithm or log-likelihood ratio belief propagation (LLR-BP) over the factor graph of the code. One of the disadvantages of LDPC codes is the onset of an error floor at high values of signal to noise ratio caused by trapping sets. In this paper, we propose a two stage decoder to deal with different types of trapping sets. Oscillating trapping sets are taken care by the first stage of the decoder and the elementary trapping sets are handled by the second stage of the deco…
Guessing Random Additive Noise Decoding (GRAND) is a family of universal decoding algorithms suitable for decoding any moderate redundancy code of any length. We establish that, through the use of list decoding, soft-input variants of GRAND can replace the Chase algorithm as the component decoder in the turbo decoding of product codes. In addition to being able to decode arbitrary product codes, rather than just those with dedicated hard-input component code decoders, results show that ORBGRAND achieves a coding gain of up to 0.7dB over the Chase algorithm with same list size.
We examine and compare several different classes of "balanced" block codes over q-ary alphabets, namely symbol-balanced (SB) codes, charge-balanced (CB) codes, and polarity-balanced (PB) codes. Known results on the maximum size and asymptotic minimal redundancy of SB and CB codes are reviewed. We then determine the maximum size and asymptotic minimal redundancy of PB codes and of codes which are both CB and PB. We also propose efficient Knuth-like encoders and decoders for all these types of balanced codes.
The performance of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes in the error floor region is closely related to some combinatorial structures of the code's Tanner graph, collectively referred to as {\it trapping sets (TSs)}. In this paper, we study the asymptotic average number of different types of trapping sets such as {\em elementary TSs (ETS)}, {\em leafless ETSs (LETS)}, {\em absorbing sets (ABS)}, {\em elementary ABSs (EABS)}, and {\em stopping sets (SS)}, in random variable-regular and irregular LDPC code ensembles. We demonstrate that, regardless of the type of the TS, as the code's length te…
This paper describes design of a low-complexity algorithm for adaptive encoding/ decoding of binary sequences produced by memoryless sources. The algorithm implements universal block codes constructed for a set of contexts identified by the numbers of non-zero bits in previous bits in a sequence. We derive a precise formula for asymptotic redundancy of such codes, which refines previous well-known estimate by Krichevsky and Trofimov, and provide experimental verification of this result. In our experimental study we also compare our implementation with existing binary adaptive encoders, such as…
This paper explores feedback systems using incremental redundancy (IR) with noiseless transmitter confirmation (NTC). For IR-NTC systems based on {\em finite-length} codes (with blocklength $N$) and decoding attempts only at {\em certain specified decoding times}, this paper presents the asymptotic expansion achieved by random coding, provides rate-compatible sphere-packing (RCSP) performance approximations, and presents simulation results of tail-biting convolutional codes. The information-theoretic analysis shows that values of $N$ relatively close to the expected latency yield the same rand…
In this paper, a distributed turbo-like coding scheme for wireless networks with relays is proposed. We consider a scenario where multiple sources communicate with a single destination with the help of a relay. The proposed scheme can be regarded as of the decode-and-forward type. The relay decodes the information from the sources and it properly combines and re-encodes them to generate some extra redundancy, which is transmitted to the destination. The amount of redundancy generated by the relay can simply be adjusted according to requirements in terms of performance, throughput and/or power.…
We compare the performance of short-length linear binary codes on the binary erasure channel and the binary-input Gaussian channel. We use a universal decoder that can decode any linear binary block code: Gaussian-elimination based Maximum-Likelihood decoder on the erasure channel and probabilistic Ordered Statistics Decoder on the Gaussian channel. As such we compare codes and not decoders. The word error rate versus the channel parameter is found for LDPC, Reed-Muller, Polar, and BCH codes at length 256 bits. BCH codes outperform other codes in absence of cyclic redundancy check. Under joint…
For a linear block code C, its stopping redundancy is defined as the smallest number of check nodes in a Tanner graph for C, such that there exist no stopping sets of size smaller than the minimum distance of C. Schwartz and Vardy conjectured that the stopping redundancy of an MDS code should only depend on its length and minimum distance. We define the (n,t)-single-exclusion number, S(n,t) as the smallest number of t-subsets of an n-set, such that for each i-subset of the n-set, i=1,...,t+1, there exists a t-subset that contains all but one element of the i-subset. New upper bounds on the sin…
We present error-correcting codes that achieve the information-theoretically best possible trade-off between the rate and error-correction radius. Specifically, for every $0 < R < 1$ and $\eps> 0$, we present an explicit construction of error-correcting codes of rate $R$ that can be list decoded in polynomial time up to a fraction $(1-R-\eps)$ of {\em worst-case} errors. At least theoretically, this meets one of the central challenges in algorithmic coding theory. Our codes are simple to describe: they are {\em folded Reed-Solomon codes}, which are in fact {\em exactly} Reed-Solomon (RS) codes…
We study the application of polar codes in deletion channels by analyzing the cascade of a binary erasure channel (BEC) and a deletion channel. We show how polar codes can be used effectively on a BEC with a single deletion, and propose a list decoding algorithm with a cyclic redundancy check for this case. The decoding complexity is $O(N^2\log N)$, where $N$ is the blocklength of the code. An important contribution is an optimization of the amount of redundancy added to minimize the overall error probability. Our theoretical results are corroborated by numerical simulations which show that th…
Low-rate and short-packet transmissions are important for ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC). In this paper, we put forth a new family of sparse superposition codes for URLLC, called block orthogonal sparse superposition (BOSS) codes. We first present a code construction method for the efficient encoding of BOSS codes. The key idea is to construct codewords by the superposition of the orthogonal columns of a dictionary matrix with a sequential bit mapping strategy. We also propose an approximate maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) decoder with two stages. The approximate MAP …
In this paper we study the problem of increasing the decoding success probability of random linear fountain code over GF(2) for small packet lengths used in delay-intolerant applications such as multimedia streaming. Such code over GF(2) are attractive as they have lower decoding complexity than codes over larger field size, but suffer from high transmission redundancy. In our proposed coding scheme we construct a codeword which is not a linear combination of any codewords previously transmitted to mitigate such transmission redundancy. We then note the observation that the probability of rece…
The average redundancy of the Shannon code, $R_n$, as a function of the block length $n$, is known to exhibit two very different types of behavior, depending on the rationality or irrationality of certain parameters of the source: It either converges to 1/2 as $n$ grows without bound, or it may have a non-vanishing, oscillatory, (quasi-) periodic pattern around the value 1/2 for all large $n$. In this paper, we make an attempt to shed some insight into this erratic behavior of $R_n$, by drawing an analogy with the realm of physics of wave propagation, in particular, the elementary theory of sc…
Gradient descent and its many variants, including mini-batch stochastic gradient descent, form the algorithmic foundation of modern large-scale machine learning. Due to the size and scale of modern data, gradient computations are often distributed across multiple compute nodes. Unfortunately, such distributed implementations can face significant delays caused by straggler nodes, i.e., nodes that are much slower than average. Gradient coding is a new technique for mitigating the effect of stragglers via algorithmic redundancy. While effective, previously proposed gradient codes can be computati…
