HIHO Decoding Algorithms of Turbo Product Codes for High Rate Optical Communications

This paper presents a new Hard-Input Hard-Output (HIHO) iterative decoding algorithm for Turbo Product Codes (TPC), and especially describes the BCH-TPC codes aiming to alleviate error propagation and lower error floor. This algorithm mainly emphasizes a decision mechanism for bit-flips, which thoroughly evaluates four different aspects of the decoding process, properly weighs and combines their respective reliability measures, and then employs the combined measure to make a judgment with regard to whether any particular bit should be flipped or not. Simulations result in a very steep Bit Error Rate (BER) curve indicating that a high-level net coding gain can be expected with a reasonable complexity. The simplicity and effectiveness of this HIHO decoding algorithm makes it a promising candidate for the application in future high-speed fiber optical communications.