Investigation of random-structure regular LDPC codes construction based on progressive edge-growth and algorithms for removal of short cycles

This paper investigates the construction of random-structure LDPC (low-density parity-check) codes using Progressive Edge-Growth (PEG) algorithm and two proposed algorithms for removing short cycles (CB1 and CB2 algorithm; CB stands for Cycle Break). Progressive Edge-Growth is an algorithm for computer-based design of random-structure LDPC codes, the role of which is to generate a Tanner graph (a bipartite graph, which represents a parity-check matrix of an error-correcting channel code) with as few short cycles as possible. Short cycles, especially the shortest ones with a length of 4 edges, in Tanner graphs of LDPC codes can degrade the performance of their decoding algorithm, because after certain number of decoding iterations, the information sent through its edges is no longer independent. The main contribution of this paper is the unique approach to the process of removing short cycles in the form of CB2 algorithm, which erases edges from the code's parity-check matrix without decreasing the minimum Hamming distance of the code. The two cycle-removing algorithms can be used to improve the error-correcting performance of PEG-generated (or any other) LDPC codes and achieved results are provided. All these algorithms were used to create a PEG LDPC code which rivals the best-known PEG-generated LDPC code with similar parameters provided by one of the founders of LDPC codes. The methods for generating the mentioned error-correcting codes are described along with simulations which compare the error-correcting performance of the original codes generated by the PEG algorithm, the PEG codes processed by either CB1 or CB2 algorithm and also external PEG code published by one of the founders of LDPC code