Raptor codes for hybrid error-erasure channels with memory

Raptor codes are a class of rateless codes which have been used as application layer forward error correction (FEC) codes for broadcasting over wireless channels. Raptor codes provide promising performance in both erasure channels and noisy channels. This paper investigates the transmission of Raptor codes over hybrid error-erasure channels with and without memory. Performance of Raptor codes over binary symmetric channels with erasures (BSCE) is analyzed. It has been found that the average overhead of Raptor codes is independent of the erasure rate of BSCE channels. Simulation results of BER performance also show similar behavior. When channel memory is considered, performance of Raptor codes over Gilbert-Elliott (GE) channels is investigated via simulation. The results show that memory degrades the performance of Raptor codes whether or not channel state information is available.