Non-Binary Polar Codes for Spread-Spectrum Modulations

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel coded modulation scheme combining non-binary polar codes and cyclic code shift keying for reliable low-SNR transmission of short data packets, with optimized kernel design.

Contribution

It presents a new design methodology for non-binary polar codes over Galois fields tailored for spread-spectrum modulations, improving finite blocklength performance.

Findings

Performance close to finite blocklength limits

Effective kernel coefficient optimization

Suitable for low-SNR short packet transmission

Abstract

This paper proposes a new coded modulation scheme for reliable transmission of short data packets at very low signal-to-noise ratio, combining cyclic code shift keying modulation and non-binary polar coding. We consider non-binary polar codes defined over Galois fields, and propose a new design methodology, aimed at optimizing the choice of the kernel coefficients. Numerical results show that the system performance is close to the achievable limits in the finite blocklength regime.