Fast, Flexible, Adaptive Channel Coding with Near-Shannon-Limit Performance

The work proposed here presents a novel approach to channel coding which will provide flexibility and robustness which are necessary to alleviate many significant limitations in current RF communication systems. The proposed approach is entitledTail-Biting Circular-Trellis Block Coding (TBC2). This family of coding methods provides unique advantages in the tactical military communication environment and in fact achieves the required fast, flexible, adaptive channel coding with near-Shannon limitperformance.In particular, the coding approach presented here provides the following key advantages over other approaches:1. Near-Shannon Limit bit error performance2. Low latency, achieved by using very short codewords3. High adaptivity in the dynamic selection of codeword size and code rate4. Efficient decoding, using a highly parallel decoding algorithm and few iterationsTaken together, the features of this code will provide a new level of agility and robustness for future battlefield communication systems, allowing the system to adapt to the highly dynamic nature of channel characteristics, quality of servicerequirements, latency requirements, and available frequency bands.