A Practical Coding Scheme for the BSC with Feedback

TL;DR

This paper presents a practical coding scheme for the binary symmetric channel with feedback, utilizing a skeleton sequence generated by an arithmetic decoder, achieving near-optimal performance for specific parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a practical implementation of the rubber method for binary channels, enhancing the feasibility of feedback-based coding schemes.

Findings

Scheme is nearly optimal for certain parameters

Uses arithmetic decoder for Markov chain skeleton

Improves practicality of feedback coding methods

Abstract

We provide a practical implementation of the rubber method of Ahlswede et al. for binary alphabets. The idea is to create the "skeleton" sequence therein via an arithmetic decoder designed for a particular $k$-th order Markov chain. For the stochastic binary symmetric channel, we show that the scheme is nearly optimal in a strong sense for certain parameters.