Decoding Scheduling for Unequal Error Protection Quasi-Cyclic Low-Density Parity-Check Codes

Algebraic constructions of quasi-cyclic (QC) low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes with unequal error protection (UEP) capabilities have recently been proposed, which can provide different error-correcting capabilities for different parts of the coded bits. However, conventional decoding algorithms are not designed for LDPC codes with UEP. In this paper, we propose three decoding schemes for UEP QC-LDPC codes extended from existing scheduling strategies, tailored to the special structures of the parity-check matrices. Simulation results show that the proposed schemes can provide improved error rate performance especially for coded bits on low protection levels. The decoding convergence can also be accelerated, thereby reducing the computational complexity.