Connecting spatially coupled LDPC code chains

Codes constructed from connected spatially coupled low-density parity-check code (SC-LDPCC) chains are proposed and analyzed. It is demonstrated that connecting coupled chains results in improved iterative decoding performance. The constructed protograph ensembles have better iterative decoding thresholds compared to an individual SC-LDPCC chain and require less computational complexity per bit when operating in the near-threshold region. In addition, it is shown that the proposed constructions are asymptotically good in terms of minimum distance.