FPGA implementation of a multi-algorithm parallel FEC for SDR platforms

Abstract

Forward Error Correction (FEC) consumes excessive computation in a Software Defined Radio (SDR) system. In this work, a high-throughput flexible FEC processor is proposed for the decoding acceleration. The FEC processor enables Turbo/QC-LDPC/Convolutional Code decoding with software-hardware co-reconfigurability. A multi-algorithm unified trellis processing unit is introduced for resource sharing. A parallel architecture is proposed for high-throughput decoding. The Software Defined FEC (SD-FEC) with Application Specific Instruction-set Processor architecture is introduced for improving flexibility and enabling fast reconfiguration. The proposed SD-FEC can be applied to both low-cost low power applications and high performance applications. Results show that the proposed tri-mode FEC processor achieves high decoding efficiency and enough flexibility, which suits for the flexible SDR platforms.