skip to main content


Title: Shaped TCM with List Decoding that Exceeds the RCU Bound by Optimizing a Union Bound on FER
This paper derives a union bound on the frame error rate (FER) of a probabilistic amplitude shaping (PAS) system which uses a CRC-aided, rate −k/k+1 , systematic, recursive trellis-coded modulation (TCM). A tail-biting convolutional code (TBCC) provides the feed-forward error correction (FEC) code for the TCM. The system is referred as CRC-TCM-PAS [1]. In order to derive the union bound, we first prove that the concatenation of a CRC and a rate −k/k+1 convolutional code is equivalent to a new convolutional code. Then, we give the generating function of the new convolutional code using Biglieri's product-state-diagram approach. A union bound can be calculated using the generating function. Simulation results show that the derived union bound is tight in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime and can be used to design the convolutional and CRC codes. Simulation results also show that the optimized CRC-TCM-PAS system exceeds the random coding union (RCU) bound and outperforms the PAS systems with various FEC codes studied in [2] for the same number of input bits and the same transmission rate.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1911166 2008918
NSF-PAR ID:
10398495
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
IEEE
Date Published:
Journal Name:
GLOBECOM 2022 - 2022 IEEE Global Communications Conference
Page Range / eLocation ID:
4262 to 4267
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. This paper applies probabilistic amplitude shaping (PAS) to a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) aided trellis coded modulation (TCM) to achieve the short-blocklength random coding union (RCU) bound. In the transmitter, the equally likely message bits are first encoded by distribution matcher to generate amplitude symbols with the desired distribution. The binary representations of the distribution matcher outputs are then encoded by a CRC. Finally, the CRC-encoded bits are encoded and modulated by Ungerboeck's TCM scheme, which consists of a k/(k+1) systematic tail-biting convolutional code and a mapping function that maps coded bits to channel signals with capacity-achieving distribution. This paper proves that, for the proposed transmitter, the CRC bits have uniform distribution and that the channel signals have symmetric distribution. In the receiver, the serial list Viterbi decoding (S-LVD) is used to estimate the information bits. Simulation results show that, for the proposed CRC-TCM-PAS system with 87 input bits and 65-67 8-AM coded output symbols, the decoding performance under additive white Gaussian noise channel achieves the RCU bound with properly designed CRC and convolutional codes. 
    more » « less
  2. This paper applies probabilistic amplitude shaping (PAS) to cyclic redundancy check (CRC)-aided tail-biting trellis-coded modulation (TCM). CRC-TCM-PAS produces practical codes for short block lengths on the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. In the transmitter, equally likely message bits are encoded by a distribution matcher (DM) generating amplitude symbols with a desired distribution. A CRC is appended to the sequence of amplitude symbols, and this sequence is then encoded and modulated by TCM to produce real-valued channel input signals. This paper proves that the sign values produced by the TCM are asymptotically equally likely to be positive or negative. The CRC-TCM-PAS scheme can thus generate channel input symbols with a symmetric capacity-approaching probability mass function. The paper provides an analytical upper bound on the frame error rate of the CRC-TCM-PAS system over the AWGN channel. This FER upper bound is the objective function used for jointly optimizing the CRC and convolutional code. Additionally, this paper proposes a multi-composition DM, which is a collection of multiple constant-composition DMs. The optimized CRC-TCM-PAS systems achieve frame error rates below the random coding union (RCU) bound in AWGN and outperform the short-blocklength PAS systems with various other forward error correction codes studied in [2]. 
    more » « less
  3. We extend earlier work on the design of convolutional code-specific CRC codes to Q -ary alphabets, with an eye toward Q -ary orthogonal signaling. Starting with distance-spectrum optimal, zero-terminated, Q -ary convolutional codes, we design Q -ary CRC codes so that the CRC/convolutional concatenation is distance-spectrum optimal. The Q -ary code symbols are mapped to a Q -ary orthogonal signal set and sent over an AWGN channel with noncoherent reception. We focus on Q=4 , rate-1/2 convolutional codes in our designs. The random coding union bound and normal approximation are used in earlier works as benchmarks for performance for distance-spectrum-optimal convolutional codes. We derive a saddlepoint approximation of the random coding union bound for the coded noncoherent signaling channel, as well as a normal approximation for this channel, and compare the performance of our codes to these limits. Our best design is within 0.6 dB of the RCU bound at a frame error rate of 10 −4 . 
    more » « less
  4. null (Ed.)
    Cyclic redundancy check (CRC) codes combined with convolutional codes yield a powerful concatenated code that can be efficiently decoded using list decoding. To help design such systems, this paper presents an efficient algorithm for identifying the distance-spectrum-optimal (DSO) CRC polynomial for a given tail-biting convolutional code (TBCC) when the target undetected error rate (UER) is small. Lou et al. found that the DSO CRC design for a given zero-terminated convolutional code under low UER is equivalent to maximizing the undetected minimum distance (the minimum distance of the concatenated code). This paper applies the same principle to design the DSO CRC for a given TBCC under low target UER. Our algorithm is based on partitioning the tail-biting trellis into several disjoint sets of tail-biting paths that are closed under cyclic shifts. This paper shows that the tail-biting path in each set can be constructed by concatenating the irreducible error events (IEEs) and circularly shifting the resultant path. This motivates an efficient collection algorithm that aims at gathering IEEs, and a search algorithm that reconstructs the full list of error events with bounded distance of interest, which can be used to find the DSO CRC. Simulation results show that DSO CRCs can significantly outperform suboptimal CRCs in the low UER regime. 
    more » « less
  5. Recently, rate-1/ω zero-terminated and tail-biting convolutional codes (ZTCCs and TBCCs) with cyclic-redundancy-check (CRC)-aided list decoding have been shown to closely approach the random-coding union (RCU) bound for short blocklengths. This paper designs CRCs for rate-(ω−1)/ω CCs with short blocklengths, considering both the ZT and TB cases. The CRC design seeks to optimize the frame error rate (FER) performance of the code resulting from the concatenation of the CRC and the CC. Utilization of the dual trellis proposed by Yamada et al. lowers the complexity of CRC-aided serial list Viterbi decoding (SLVD) of ZTCCs and TBCCs. CRC-aided SLVD of the TBCCs closely approaches the RCU bound at a blocklength of 128. 
    more » « less