arXiv subjects

Peihong Yuan

Publications and source records attributed to Peihong Yuan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Improving the decoding performance of CA-polar codes

We investigate the use of modern code-agnostic decoders to convert CA-SCL from an incomplete decoder to a complete one. When CA-SCL fails to identify a codeword that passes the CRC check, we apply a code-agnostic decoder that identifies a codeword that satisfies the CRC. We establish that this approach gives gains of up to 0.2 dB in block error rate for CA-polar codes from the 5G New Radio standard. If, instead, the message had been encoded in a systematic CA-polar code, the gain improves to more than 1.5 dB. Leveraging recent developments in blockwise soft output, we additionally establish that it is possible to control the undetected error rate even when using the CRC for error correction.

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arXiv2025

Guessing Decoding of Short Blocklength Codes

Future beyond-5G and 6G systems demand ultra-reliable, low-latency communication with short blocklengths, motivating the development of universal decoding algorithms. Guessing decoding, which infers the noise or codeword candidate in order of decreasing (exact or approximate) likelihood, offers a universal framework applicable to short codes. In this paper, we present a unified treatment of two prominent recent families of guessing decoding: guessing random additive noise decoding (GRAND) and guessing codeword decoding (GCD). For each, we (i) present algorithmic implementations and ordering strategies; (ii) prove maximum-likelihood (ML) optimality under appropriate stopping criteria; (iii) derive saddle-point approximations for the average number of queries; and (iv) validate theoretical predictions with simulations. We further analyze the performance degradation due to limited search budgets relative to ML performance, compare key metrics (worst-case and average complexity, hardware considerations), and highlight how advances in one approach transfer naturally to the other. Our results clarify the operating regimes where GRAND and GCD demonstrate superior performance. This work provides both theoretical insights and practical guidelines for deploying universal guessing decoders in next-generation short-blocklength communications.

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arXiv2024

Using a Single-Parity-Check to Reduce the Guesswork of Guessing Codeword Decoding

Guessing Codeword Decoding (GCD) is a recently proposed soft-input forward error correction decoder for arbitrary binary linear codes. Inspired by recent proposals that leverage binary linear codebook structure to reduce the number of queries made by Guessing Random Additive Noise Decoding (GRAND), for binary linear codes that include a full-message single parity-check (SPC) bit, we show that it is possible to reduce the number of queries made by GCD by a factor of up to 2 with the greatest guesswork reduction realized at lower SNRs, without impacting decoding precision. Codes without a full-message SPC can be modified to include one by changing a column of the generator matrix to obtain a decoding complexity advantage, and we demonstrate that this can often be done without losing decoding precision. To practically avail of the complexity advantage, a noise effect pattern generator capable of producing sequences for given Hamming weights, such as the landslide algorithm developed for ORBGRAND, is necessary.

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arXiv2024

Soft-output (SO) GRAND and Iterative Decoding to Outperform LDPCs

We establish that a large, flexible class of long, high redundancy error correcting codes can be efficiently and accurately decoded with guessing random additive noise decoding (GRAND). Performance evaluation demonstrates that it is possible to construct simple product codes with lengths of approximately 200 to 4000 bits and rates between 0.2 and 0.8 that outperform low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes from the 5G New Radio standard in both AWGN and fading channels. The concatenated structure enables many desirable features, including: low-complexity hardware-friendly encoding and decoding; significant flexibility in length and rate through modularity; and high levels of parallelism in encoding and decoding that enable low latency. Central is the development of a method through which any soft-input (SI) GRAND algorithm can provide soft-output (SO) in the form of an accurate a-posteriori estimate of the likelihood that a decoding is correct or, in the case of list decoding, the likelihood that each element of the list is correct. The distinguishing feature of soft-output GRAND (SOGRAND) is the provision of an estimate that the correct decoding has not been found, even when providing a single decoding. That per-block SO can be converted into accurate per-bit SO by a weighted sum that includes a term for the SI. Implementing SOGRAND adds negligible computation and memory to the existing decoding process, and using it results in a practical, low-latency alternative to LDPC codes.

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arXiv2024

Soft-Output Successive Cancellation List Decoding

We introduce an algorithm for approximating the codebook probability that is compatible with all successive cancellation (SC)-based decoding algorithms, including SC list (SCL) decoding. This approximation is based on an auxiliary distribution that mimics the dynamics of decoding algorithms with an SC decoding schedule. Based on this codebook probability and SCL decoding, we introduce soft-output SCL (SO-SCL) to generate both blockwise and bitwise soft-output (SO). Using that blockwise SO, we first establish that, in terms of both block error rate (BLER) and undetected error rate (UER), SO-SCL decoding of dynamic Reed-Muller (RM) codes significantly outperforms the CRC-concatenated polar codes from 5G New Radio under SCL decoding. Moreover, using SO-SCL, the decoding misdetection rate (MDR) can be constrained to not exceed any predefined value, making it suitable for practical systems. Proposed bitwise SO can be readily generated from blockwise SO via a weighted sum of beliefs that includes a term where SO is weighted by the codebook probability, resulting in a soft-input soft-output (SISO) decoder. Simulation results for SO-SCL iterative decoding of product codes and generalized LDPC (GLDPC) codes, along with information-theoretical analysis, demonstrate significant superiority over existing list-max and list-sum approximations.

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arXiv2024

Probabilistic Shaped Multilevel Polar Coding for Wiretap Channel

A wiretap channel is served as the fundamental model of physical layer security techniques, where the secrecy capacity of the Gaussian wiretap channel is proven to be achieved by Gaussian input. However, there remains a gap between the Gaussian secrecy capacity and the secrecy rate with conventional uniformly distributed discrete constellation input, e.g. amplitude shift keying (ASK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). In this paper, we propose a probabilistic shaped multilevel polar coding scheme to bridge the gap. Specifically, the input distribution optimization problem for maximizing the secrecy rate with ASK/QAM input is solved. Numerical results show that the resulting sub-optimal solution can still approach the Gaussian secrecy capacity. Then, we investigate the polarization of multilevel polar codes for the asymmetric discrete memoryless wiretap channel, and thus propose a multilevel polar coding scheme integration with probabilistic shaping. It is proved that the scheme can achieve the secrecy capacity of the Gaussian wiretap channel with discrete constellation input, and satisfies the reliability condition and weak security condition. A security-oriented polar code construction method to natively satisfies the leakage-based security condition is also investigated. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves more efficient and secure transmission than the uniform constellation input case over both the Gaussian wiretap channel and the Rayleigh fading wiretap channel.

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arXiv2024

Soft-output Guessing Codeword Decoding

We establish that it is possible to extract accurate blockwise and bitwise soft output from Guessing Codeword Decoding with minimal additional computational complexity by considering it as a variant of Guessing Random Additive Noise Decoding. Blockwise soft output can be used to control decoding misdetection rate while bitwise soft output results in a soft-input soft-output decoder that can be used for efficient iterative decoding of long, high redundancy codes.

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arXiv2024

Near-Optimal Generalized Decoding of Polar-like Codes

We present a framework that can exploit the tradeoff between the undetected error rate (UER) and block error rate (BLER) of polar-like codes. It is compatible with all successive cancellation (SC)-based decoding methods and relies on a novel approximation that we call codebook probability. This approximation is based on an auxiliary distribution that mimics the dynamics of decoding algorithms following an SC decoding schedule. Simulation results demonstrates that, in the case of SC list (SCL) decoding, the proposed framework outperforms the state-of-art approximations from Forney's generalized decoding rule for polar-like codes with dynamic frozen bits. In addition, dynamic Reed-Muller (RM) codes using the proposed generalized decoding significantly outperform CRC-concatenated polar codes decoded using SCL in both BLER and UER. Finally, we briefly discuss three potential applications of the approximated codebook probability: coded pilot-free channel estimation; bitwise soft-output decoding; and improved turbo product decoding.

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arXiv2024

Successive Cancellation Ordered Search Decoding of Modified $\boldsymbol{G}_N$-Coset Codes

A tree search algorithm called successive cancellation ordered search (SCOS) is proposed for $\boldsymbol{G}_N$-coset codes that implements maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding with adaptive complexity for transmission over binary-input AWGN channels. Unlike bit-flip decoders, no outer code is needed to terminate decoding; therefore, SCOS also applies to $\boldsymbol{G}_N$-coset codes modified with dynamic frozen bits. The average complexity is close to that of successive cancellation (SC) decoding at practical frame error rates (FERs) for codes with wide ranges of rate and lengths up to $512$ bits, which perform within $0.25$ dB or less from the random coding union bound and outperform Reed--Muller codes under ML decoding by up to $0.5$ dB. Simulations illustrate simultaneous gains for SCOS over SC-Fano, SC stack (SCS) and SC list (SCL) decoding in FER and the average complexity at various SNR regimes. SCOS is further extended by forcing it to look for candidates satisfying a threshold, thereby outperforming basic SCOS under complexity constraints. The modified SCOS enables strong error-detection capability without the need for an outer code. In particular, the $(128, 64)$ polarization-adjusted convolutional code under modified SCOS provides gains in overall and undetected FER compared to CRC-aided polar codes under SCL/dynamic SC flip decoding at high SNR.

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arXiv2023

Code-Aided Channel Estimation in LDPC-Coded MIMO Systems

For a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system with unknown channel state information (CSI), a novel low-density parity check (LDPC)-coded transmission (LCT) scheme with joint pilot and data channel estimation is proposed. To fine-tune the CSI, a method based on the constraints introduced by the coded data from an LDPC code is designed such that the MIMO detector exploits the fine-tuned CSI. For reducing the computational burden, a coordinate ascent algorithm is employed along with several approximation methods, effectively reducing the required times of MIMO detection and computational complexity to achieve a satisfying performance. Simulation results utilizing WiMAX standard LDPC codes and quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulation demonstrate gains of up to 1.3 dB at a frame error rate (FER) of $10^{-4}$ compared to pilot-assisted transmission (PAT) over Rayleigh block-fading channels.

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arXiv2023

Upgrade error detection to prediction with GRAND

Guessing Random Additive Noise Decoding (GRAND) is a family of hard- and soft-detection error correction decoding algorithms that provide accurate decoding of any moderate redundancy code of any length. Here we establish a method through which any soft-input GRAND algorithm can provide soft output in the form of an accurate a posteriori estimate of the likelihood that a decoding is correct or, in the case of list decoding, the likelihood that the correct decoding is an element of the list. Implementing the method adds negligible additional computation and memory to the existing decoding process. The output permits tuning the balance between undetected errors and block errors for arbitrary moderate redundancy codes including CRCs

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arXiv2022

On the Role of Quantization of Soft Information in GRAND

In this work, we investigate guessing random additive noise decoding (GRAND) with quantized soft input. First, we analyze the achievable rate of ordered reliability bits GRAND (ORBGRAND), which uses the rank order of the reliability as quantized soft information. We show that multi-line ORBGRAND can approach capacity for any signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We then introduce discretized soft GRAND (DSGRAND), which uses information from a conventional quantizer. Simulation results show that DSGRAND well approximates maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding with a number of quantization bits that is in line with current soft decoding implementations. For a (128,106) CRC-concatenated polar code, the basic ORBGRAND is able to match or outperform CRC-aided successive cancellation list (CA-SCL) decoding with codeword list size of 64 and 3 bits of quantized soft information, while DSGRAND outperforms CA-SCL decoding with a list size of 128 codewords. Both ORBGRAND and DSGRAND exhibit approximately an order of magnitude less average complexity and two orders of magnitude smaller memory requirements than CA-SCL.

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arXiv2021

Complexity-Adaptive Maximum-Likelihood Decoding of Modified $\boldsymbol{G}_N$-Coset Codes

A complexity-adaptive tree search algorithm is proposed for $\boldsymbol{G}_N$-coset codes that implements maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding by using a successive decoding schedule. The average complexity is close to that of the successive cancellation (SC) decoding for practical error rates when applied to polar codes and short Reed-Muller (RM) codes, e.g., block lengths up to $N=128$. By modifying the algorithm to limit the worst-case complexity, one obtains a near-ML decoder for longer RM codes and their subcodes. Unlike other bit-flip decoders, no outer code is needed to terminate decoding. The algorithm can thus be applied to modified $\boldsymbol{G}_N$-coset code constructions with dynamic frozen bits. One advantage over sequential decoders is that there is no need to optimize a separate parameter.

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arXiv2021

Polar-Coded Non-Coherent Communication

A polar-coded transmission (PCT) scheme with joint channel estimation and decoding is proposed for channels with unknown channel state information (CSI). The CSI is estimated via successive cancellation (SC) decoding and the constraints imposed by the frozen bits. SC list decoding with an outer code improves performance, including resolving a phase ambiguity when using quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) and Gray labeling. Simulations with 5G polar codes and QPSK show gains of up to $2$~dB at a frame error rate (FER) of $10^{-4}$ over pilot-assisted transmission for various non-coherent models. Moreover, PCT performs within a few tenths of a dB to a coherent receiver with perfect CSI. For Rayleigh block-fading channels, PCT outperforms an FER upper bound based on random coding and within one dB of a lower bound.

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arXiv2019

Shaped On-Off Keying Using Polar Codes

The probabilistic shaping scheme from Honda and Yamamoto (2013) for polar codes is used to enable power-efficient signaling for on-off keying (OOK). As OOK has a non-symmetric optimal input distribution, shaping approaches that are based on the concatenation of a distribution matcher followed by systematic encoding do not result in optimal signaling. Instead, these approaches represent a time sharing scheme where only a fraction of the codeword symbols is shaped. The proposed scheme uses a polar code for joint distribution matching and forward error correction which enables asymptotically optimal signaling. Numerical simulations show a gain of 1.8 dB compared to uniform transmission at a spectral efficiency of 0.25 bits/channel use for a blocklength of 65,536 bits.

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arXiv2019

Design of Polar Codes for Parallel Channels with an Average Power Constraint

Polar codes are designed for parallel binary-input additive white Gaussian noise (BiAWGN) channels with an average power constraint. The two main design choices are: the mapping between codeword bits and channels of different quality, and the power allocation under the average power constraint. Information theory suggests to allocate power such that the sum of mutual information (MI) terms is maximized. However, a power allocation specific to polar codes shows significant gains.

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arXiv2018

Construction and Decoding Algorithms for for Polar Codes based on $2\times2$ Non-Binary Kernels

Polar codes based on $2\times2$ non-binary kernels are discussed in this work. The kernel over $\text{GF}(q)$ is selected by maximizing the polarization effect and using Monte-Carlo simulation. Belief propagation (BP) and successive cancellation (SC) based decoding algorithms are extended to non-binary codes. Additionally, a successive cancellation list (SCL) decoding with a pruned tree is proposed. Simulation results show that the proposed decoder performs very close to a conventional SCL decoder with significantly lower complexity.

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arXiv2018

Polar Code Construction for List Decoding

A heuristic construction of polar codes for successive cancellation list (SCL) decoding with a given list size is proposed to balance the trade-off between performance measured in frame error rate (FER) and decoding complexity. Furthermore, a construction based on dynamically frozen bits with constraints among the "low weight bits" (LWB) is presented. Simulation results show that the LWB-polar codes outperform the CRC-polar codes and the eBCH-polar codes under SCL decoding.

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