Interactive Reconciliation with Low-Density Parity-Check Codes

TL;DR

This paper introduces an interactive protocol for information reconciliation using low-density parity-check codes, which adaptively adjusts coding rate in real time to improve efficiency and flexibility in scenarios like quantum key distribution.

Contribution

It presents a novel interactive reconciliation protocol that dynamically adapts coding rate with puncturing and shortening, outperforming non-interactive methods.

Findings

Significantly improved efficiency over non-interactive protocols

Real-time adaptation covers a wide error rate range

Applicable to quantum key distribution and similar scenarios

Abstract

Efficient information reconciliation is crucial in several scenarios, being quantum key distribution a remarkable example. However, efficiency is not the only requirement for determining the quality of the information reconciliation process. In some of these scenarios we find other relevant parameters such as the interactivity or the adaptability to different channel statistics. We propose an interactive protocol for information reconciliation based on low-density parity-check codes. The coding rate is adapted in real time by using simultaneously puncturing and shortening strategies, allowing it to cover a predefined error rate range with just a single code. The efficiency of the information reconciliation process using the proposed protocol is considerably better than the efficiency of its non-interactive version.