Capacity approaching codes design and implementation

Since the early days of information and coding theory researchers and designers of error-control systems have striven to obtain performance close to the fundamental Shannon limit with feasible implementation complexity. This goal is now very close to being achieved. The invention of turbo coding in 1993, and the later rediscovery of Gallager low-density parity-check (LDPQ) codes, together with recent advances in small, low power and high speed coding devices, has enabled these capacity-approaching codes to play an increasingly important role in providing current and future communications services. This Special Section of the current issue of the IEE Proceedings Communications contains twelve papers introducing and describing the latest developments in the design and implementation of capacity-approaching codes.