Recent Advances in Turbo Code Design and Theory

The discovery of turbo codes and the subsequent rediscovery of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes represent major milestones in the field of channel coding. Recent advances in the design and theory of turbo codes and their relationship to LDPC codes are discussed. Several new interleaver designs for turbo codes are presented which illustrate the important role that the interleaver plays in these codes. The relationship between turbo codes and LDPC codes is explored via an explicit formulation of the parity-check matrix of a turbo code, and simulation results are given for sum product decoding of a turbo code.