Convergence analysis of a new class of flexible hybrid concatenated codes

This paper focuses on a new class of flexible hybrid concatenated codes which are able to achieve any desired bit error rate performance between that of a parallel and serial concatenated convolutional code. The main contribution of this paper is a convergence analysis of the decoder, which is facilitated by an alternative representation of the code structure and an extrinsic information (EXIT) chart. In addition to giving some insight into the behavior and design of this particular type of hybrid code, this paper also provides new insight into the relationship between parallel and serial concatenated codes as well as the hybrid concatenated code proposed by Divsalar and Pollara [1997].