Performance Analysis of Deep Learning based on Recurrent Neural Networks for Channel Coding

Channel Coding has been one of the central disciplines driving the success stories of current generation LTE systems and beyond. In particular, turbo codes are mostly used for cellular and other applications where a reliable data transfer is required for latency-constrained communication in the presence of data-corrupting noise. However, the decoding algorithm for turbo codes is computationally intensive and thereby limiting its applicability in hand-held devices. In this paper, we study the feasibility of using Deep Learning (DL) architectures based on Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) for encoding and decoding of turbo codes. In this regard, we simulate and use data from various stages of the transmission chain (turbo encoder output, Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel output, demodulator output) to train our proposed RNN architecture and compare its performance to the conventional turbo encoder/decoder algorithms. Simulation results show, that the proposed RNN model outperforms the decoding performance of a conventional turbo decoder at low Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) regions.