Design of Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) Codes for Deep-Space Applications

This article summarizes a comparison of numerous low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes using a set of metrics relevant to deep-space communications. These metrics are the error-correcting capability of the code, the computational complexity of the decoder, the architectural complexities of the encoder and decoder, and the ease of generating a family of structurally related codes at different code rates and block lengths. Based on these metrics, we select a family of LDPC codes that is a good candidate for inclusion in a new Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) telemetry channel coding standard for deep-space applications.