International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology (IJCTT) volume 5 number 5Nov 2013

ISSN: 2231-2803 http://www.ijcttjournal.org Page 249

Large-Girth Column-Weight Two QC-LDPC Codes
Gabofetswe Malema
#1
, Nkwebi Motlogelwa
*2

Department of Computer Science, University of Botswana
P/Bag 0022, Gaborone


Abstract This article presents a method for constructing large
girth column-weight 2 QC-LDPC codes. A distance graph is first
constructed using an existing method. The distance graph is then
converted into a Tanner graph. The proposed method could
easily construct codes with girths large than 12 and is more
flexible compared to previous methods. Obtained codes show
good bit error rate performance comparable to that of random
codes.

Keywords QC-LDPC codes, girth, distance graphs.
I. INTRODUCTION
Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have been shown
to have a minimum Hamming distance that grows linearly
with code length, N, for codes with column weight (j) greater
or equal to three [1]. However, for codes with column-weight
less than three, the minimumdistance grows logarithmically
with N. This makes column-weight two codes to have
decoding performance lower than that of codes with higher
column-weights at similar lengths and rates. Despite this
drawback, column-weight two codes have been found to be
useful in some areas such as partial response channels [2][3].
Their performance is found to be well suited for some errors
and they have a low computational complexity due to fewer
connections.
There are several suggested methods for constructing
column-weight 2 LDPC codes. Graphical models are used in
[4] to construct girth 10 and 20 codes. However, the suggested
graphical models are limited to and 1/3 code rates. In [3]
QC-LDPC codes are constructed but limited to girth 12. In
[5][6] a distance graph is used to construct a Tanner graph. In
[5] finite geometry is used to construct a (k,k) quasi-cyclic
LDPC code which is then converted into a (2,k) LDPC code,
where k is the row-weight and 2 is the column-weight. The
size and rate of obtained codes are limited by the finite
geometry approach which does not have flexibility in size and
matrix configuration. In [6] already known distance graphs
such as cages are converted to Tanner graphs. The size and
rate of obtained codes is limited by known distance graphs.

In this paper we use a flexible algorithmdeveloped in [7] to
construct (k,k) QC-LDPC codes. Both row and column-
weights are equal to k. The code is then converted into a
Tanner graph just like in [5]. The algorithmin [7] is much
more flexible compared to that of [5].
A distance graph of size (k,g) is one in which the number of
edges per vertex is k and the smallest cycle (girth) from each
vertex is g. As shown in Figure 1 such a graph could be
converted into a Tanner graph or matrix where each vertex
represents a row and each edge represents a column. The two
1s on each column are the two vertices at the end of that edge.
When such a transformation is made the resulting graph or
matrix has a girth of 2g. Therefore a distance graph of (k,g) is
transformed into a matrix of (2,k) with girth 2g.











Distance graph











Fig. 1 Column-weight 2 matrix derived froma distancegraph

This paper is structured a follows. Section II presents the
proposed algorithm for constructing high-girth and flexible
column-weight 2 QC-LDPC codes. Bit error rate performance
(BER) of obtained codes is presented in Section III. Section
IV has concluding remarks.
II. PROPOSED ALGORITHM
We use the algorithmin [7] to construct a (k,g) distance
graph. That is, a graph where each vertex has k edges and the
girth is g. We then convert the (k,g) graph into a (2,k) graph
with girth 2g. The algorithmin [7] has the following major
steps:
Search algorithmfour main steps:
1) Divide rows and columns of the constructed code
into j (column weight) and k (row-weight) or more
Matrix Form
1
6 4 5
3
2
1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
1
2
3
4
5
6
International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology (IJCTT) volume 5 number 5Nov 2013

ISSN: 2231-2803 http://www.ijcttjournal.org Page 250

equal size groups respectively. The division of
rows and columns into groups creates sub-
matrices of the code.
2) The row-groups (RG) and column-groups (CG)
are then paired such that each row-group appears k
times and each column-group j times. The number
of each row-group or column-group appearances
determines the rate of the code. If the number of
group appearances (connections) varies an
irregular code is obtained. The pairing of RG and
CG is according to predesigned protograph.
3) For each row-column group (RCG) pair select a
row, i, in the row-group, and search for a column,
x, in the column-group that is at a desired distance
(shortest path between nodes) fromrow i. Desired
distance is g-1 where g is targeted girth. Connect
rows in the row-group to columns in the column-
group according to the connection of row i and
column x. That is, if row i is connected to column
x, then row i+a is connected to column x+a. The
connections are modulo of the size of row and
column groups, p. These connections create a
cyclic shift in the sub-matrices (shifted identity
sub-matrices) of the constructed code. Check if
there are smaller cycles formed after connections.
If there are, choose another column x.
4) Use the obtained Tanner graph to forma parity
check matrix.

To obtain desired distance graph, the parameters settings
are changed accordingly such that the number of rows (k)
equals to the number of columns (j). The advantage of the
algorithm in [7] is its flexibility in the base matrix
configurations, row and columns weights, girth and size of
sub matrices. The algorithmcould also be used to construct
irregular codes by simple varying the number of connections
between vertices. Also the advantage of the proposed
algorithmover that of [5] is that it could obtain smaller codes.
The implementation of the algorithmin [7] could be found in
[8]. For type I codes the maximum distance graph is 12 as
type I codes have a maximumgirth of 12 [9]. To obtain higher
girths than 12 in the distance graph appropriate graph
configurations are required. There are several techniques that
could be used to find a base matrix with girth larger than 12
some of which are found in [10].
The algorithmin [7] is a searching algorithmand therefore
does not guarantee that it will find codes with given
parameters. It is shown in [7] that the complexity of the
algorithmis linear with respect to the number of rows and
implemented programs in [8] find a code most of the time if
the size of the sub matrix is large enough. We find out that the
codes obtained are smaller than those in [5] for most of the
examples given in [5].


III. PERFORMANCE SIMULATIONS
Bit error rate performances of constructed codes were
simulated on an AWGN channel with BPSK modulation.
Performance curves for (1179,2,3) and ( 7500,2,5) QC-LDPC
codes are compared to those of randomcodes of the same
sizes and rates in Figure 2. The QC-LDPC codes were
obtained using the proposed method. Obtained codes perform
similar to random codes up to 4.0 SNR. The advantage of QC-
LDPC codes is their regular structure which makes it much
easier to implement their encoders and decoders.


0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
10
-5
10
-4
10
-3
10
-2
10
-1
BER vs SNR
SNR(dB)
B
E
R
(1179,2,3)QC-LDPC(g=24)
(1179,2,3)Random (g=12)
(7500,2,5)QC-LDPC(g=16)
(7500,2,5)Random (g=12)


Fig. 2 BER performances of (2,k) LDPC codes



IV. CONCLUSIONS
An approach for constructing flexible very high girth
column-weight 2 QC-LDPC codes is described. A distance
graph is first constructed by using an existing algorithm. The
algorithm is flexible in graph configuration, size, rate and
girth much more than existing methods. The distance graph is
then transformed into a Tanner graph or matrix. Obtained
codes show good BER performances comparable to random
codes.
REFERENCES
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[3] H. Song, J . Liu and B.V.K Vijaya Kumar, Large girth cyclecodes for
partial response channels, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 40,
No. 4, part 2, pp. 30843086, 2004.
International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology (IJCTT) volume 5 number 5Nov 2013

ISSN: 2231-2803 http://www.ijcttjournal.org Page 251

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[8] G. Malema, Construction of Flexible QC-LDPC Codes [Online]
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http://www.mathworks.de/matlabcentral/fileexchange/authors/30162
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