Decoding of Product Codes Use of Annealed Max-Log-MAP Algorithm

In this paper, a new approach to soft-input soft-output (SISO) decoding of product codes based on the annealed max-log-maximum a posteriori (max-log-MAP) is proposed. Product codes due to their interesting structure are used to evaluate the new iterative decoding algorithms. Annealing is a powerful technique to improve iterative algorithms. Using annealing not only improves the performance of the iterative decoding significantly but also decreases the probability of converging to local minima. The proposed algorithm is simulated via Monte Carlo simulations for decoding of product codes and compared with the conventional max-log-MAP algorithm and the performance improvement is evaluated