Reduced Complexity LDPC Decoding using Forced Convergence

Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have recently emerged as a viable option for forward error correction (FEC) in future wireless communications systems. One factor influencing the decision of whether to use a specific FEC technique in a system is its suitability for real time systems – and hence, its computational complexity. In this paper, we present a novel LDPC decoding architecture, where we use a threshold rule to decide whether a variable node of the LDPC decoder should update its information in subsequent iterations of the decoding process, or be considered as converged. We show that by choosing this threshold appropriately, decoding complexity can be significantly reduced with only negligible deterioration in error correction performance.