Rate-compatible LDPC-RS product codes based on raptor-like LDPC codes

In this paper, we propose a novel rate-compatible LDPC-RS product code structure which combines Raptor-like LDPC codes and RS codes in a product way. While maintaining the advantages of traditional LDPC-RS product codes, such as combating different types of errors and offering various decoding solutions, the new code structure gains the feature of rate-compatibility thanks to the application of Raptor-like LDPC code as one of its component codes. To make full use of its advantages, we derive a hybrid, iterative and adaptive decoding scheme for this code structure. We show that on one hand, this decoding scheme organizes LDPC soft-decision decoding, LDPC hard-decision decoding and RS hard-decision decoding in a proper way which improves error performance as well as reduces the complexity; on the other hand, considering rate-compatibility, this scheme implements "partial decoding" which adapts the code rate with the channel condition and further lowers the decoding complexity and system latency. This rate-compatible LDPC-RS product codes offer a potential solution for channel coding in next-generation broadcasting systems.