Decoder-Tailored Polar Code Design Using the Genetic Algorithm

We present a new framework for constructing polar codes (i.e., selecting the frozen bit positions) for arbitrary channels, tailored to a given decoding algorithm rather than assuming the (not necessarily optimal) successive cancellation (SC) decoding. The proposed framework is based on the genetic algorithm (GenAlg), where populations (i.e., collections) of information sets evolve via evolutionary transformations based on their individual error-rate performance. These populations converge toward an information set that fits both the decoding behavior and the defined channel. We construct polar codes, without the CRC-aid, tailored to plain successive cancellation list (SCL) decoding, achieving the same error-rate performance as the CRC-aided SCL decoding over both the AWGN channel and the Rayleigh channel, respectively. Furthermore, a proposed belief propagation (BP)-tailored construction approaches the SCL error-rate performance without any modifications in the decoding algorithm itself. The performance gains can be attributed to the significant reduction in the number of low-weight codewords. We show that, when required, the GenAlg can also be set up to find codes that reduce the decoding complexity. This way, the SCL list size or the number of BP iterations can be reduced while maintaining the same error-rate performance.