Towards a reconfigurable hardware architecture for implementing a LDPC module suitable for software radio systems

Abstract

Forward Error Correction is a key piece in modern digital communications. When a signal is transmitted over a noisy channel, multiple errors are generated. FEC techniques are directed towards the recovery of such errors. In last years, LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) codes have attracted attention of researchers because of their excellent error correction capabilities, but for actual radios high performance is not enough since they require to communicate with other multiple radios too. In general, communication between multiple radios requires the use of different standards. In this sense, Software Defined Radio (SDR) approach allows building multi standard radios based on reconfigurability abilities which means that base components including recovery errors block must provide reconfigurable options. 
In this paper, some open problems in designing and implementing reconfigurable LDPC components are presented and discussed. Some features of works in the state of the art are commented and possible research lines proposed.