An adaptive low-power LDPC decoder using SNR estimation

Abstract

Owing to advancement in 4 G mobile communication and mobile TV, the throughput requirement in digital communication has been increasing rapidly. Thus, the need for efficient error-correcting codes is increasing. Furthermore, since most mobile devices operate with limited battery power, low-power communication techniques are attracting considerable attention lately. In this article, we propose a novel low-power, low-density parity check (LDPC) decoder. The LDPC code is one of the most common error-correcting codes. In mobile TV, SNR estimation is required for the adaptive coding and modulation technique. We apply the SNR estimation result to the proposed LDPC decoding to minimize power consumption due to unnecessary operations. The SNR estimation value is used for predicting the iteration count until the completion of the successful LDPC decoding. When the SNR value is low, we omit computing the parity check and the tentative decision. We implemented the proposed decoder which is capable of adaptively skipping unnecessary operations based on the SNR estimation. The power consumption was measured to show the efficiency of our approach. We verified that, by using our proposed method, power consumption is reduced by 10% for the SNR range of 1.5-2.5 dB.