Non binary LDPC codes over the binary erasure channel: Density evolution analysis

In this paper we present a thorough analysis of non binary LDPC codes over the binary erasure channel. First, the decoding of non binary LDPC codes is investigated. The proposed algorithm performs ldquoon-the flyrdquo decoding, i.e. it starts decoding as soon as the first symbols are received, which generalizes the erasure decoding of binary LDPC codes. Next, we evaluate the asymptotical performance of ensembles of non binary LDPC codes, by using the density evolution method. Density evolution equations are derived by taking into consideration both the irregularity of the bipartite graph and the probability distribution of the graph edge labels. Finally, infinite-length performance of some ensembles of non binary LDPC codes for different edge label distributions are shown.