Successive Cancellation List Polar Decoder using Log-likelihood Ratios

TL;DR

This paper introduces an LLR-based SCL decoding algorithm for polar codes that significantly reduces hardware complexity and improves efficiency, enabling more practical high-performance error correction.

Contribution

The paper proposes a novel LLR-based SCL decoding algorithm that halves complexity and develops low-complexity VLSI architectures for efficient implementation.

Findings

50% reduction in hardware complexity

98% improvement in hardware efficiency

Effective decoding performance with lower resource usage

Abstract

Successive cancellation list (SCL) decoding algorithm is a powerful method that can help polar codes achieve excellent error-correcting performance. However, the current SCL algorithm and decoders are based on likelihood or log-likelihood forms, which render high hardware complexity. In this paper, we propose a log-likelihood-ratio (LLR)-based SCL (LLR-SCL) decoding algorithm, which only needs half the computation and storage complexity than the conventional one. Then, based on the proposed algorithm, we develop low-complexity VLSI architectures for LLR-SCL decoders. Analysis results show that the proposed LLR-SCL decoder achieves 50% reduction in hardware and 98% improvement in hardware efficiency.