Turbo decoding with one bit extrinsic quantization

The quantization of extrinsic information passed between two component decoders in a classical binary turbo decoder is considered and it is found that decoding with only a single bit of precision is possible. The proposed quantization scheme is studied via EXIT analysis using a BSC (Binary Symmetric Channel) model. The quantization method is verified via computer simulation, and it is shown that performance loss due to single bit quantization is surprisingly small, about 0.6 dB, compared to infinite precision turbo decoding.