An Iterative Joint Linear-Programming Decoding of LDPC Codes and Finite-State Channels

In this paper, we introduce an efficient method for the joint linear-programming (LP) decoding of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes and finite-state channels (FSCs). In particular, we extend the approach of iterative approximate LP decoding proposed by Vontobel and Koetter and further analyzed by Burshtein. By taking advantage of the dual-domain structure of the joint decoding LP, we obtain a convergent iterative algorithm for joint decoding. Our intent was to find an algorithm very similar to BCJR-based turbo equalization (TE) and it seems that we have succeeded in this respect. The result is an iterative solver for the joint decoding LP whose complexity is similar to TE but whose performance is similar to joint LP decoding. The main advantage of this decoder is that it appears to provide the predictability of joint LP decoding with the computational complexity of TE.