Uniform belief propagation processor for massive MIMO detection and GF(2n) LDPC decoding

Both massive multiple-input multiple-output (MI-MO) technique and low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have been considered as indispensable parts of 5G wireless. To improve the hardware efficiency and flexibility, a uniform belief propagation (BP) processor which can take care of both massive MIMO detection and GF(2ⁿ) LDPC decoding is proposed. To this end, the unified BP representation for BP detection and decoding is first proposed. Folding technique has been considered for further improvement of hardware efficiency and flexibility. For better illustration, a folded prototype of (8, 4) GF(2) LDPC coded 2×2 4-QAM MIMO system is implemented with FPGA. Numerical simulations and implementation results have demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed design methodology.