ELEC-L7100 Postgraduate Seminar in Communications Engineering
Welcome!
The error control codes that will be used in 5G telecommunications standards have been finalized (for quite a while now). There are two types of codes that will be used: the Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) Codes and Polar Codes. These codes are celebrated
for their capacity-approaching features. The ultimate goal of this course is to gain familiarity with the structure of these codes, along with their planned usage in 5G.
The course will start with a light introduction to coding theory, and then will continue with basic notions in (linear) block codes. Afterwards we will study in details LDPC and Polar codes. Most of the material will be presented with slides. However, proofs will be presented on a writing board. During this process student participation is expected.
Updated slides will be posted here.
Throughout there will be exercises/problems assigned as part of the homework. The intent is to add breadth and depth to the lecture material.
Updated homework assignments will be posted here, and are due on November 26. However, participants are strongly encouraged to work on assignments regularly.
Important Information:
- When: Tuesdays, 16:30 - 18:00
- Where: Hall Tu3 Wärtsilä (Maarintie 8, 1171-72)
- Language: English
- Instructor: Tefjol Pllaha (PhD in Mathematics)
- email: tefjol.pllaha@aalto.fi
- office: TUAS Building, Room 2541
- office hours: by appointment
Credits: (5-10) The workload will be the equivalent of 5 ECTS. It will be possible to gain more credits with additional work, which must be agreed beforehand with the instructor. Example of additional work could be surveys in related topics, research projects, extended simulations etc..
Prerequisites: Basic familiarity with linear algebra, information theory, and at least one programming language. The coding theory part will be self-contained.
Grading: Attendance (20%), active participation (20%), and homework (60%).
Main References:
- R. G. Gallager, "Low Density Parity-Check Codes," MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1963.
- E. Arikan, "Channel polarization: A method for constructing capacity-achieving codes for symmetric binary-input memoryless channels," IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, vol. 55, pp. 3051-3073, July 2009.
- Several standardization documentation.
- (To keep in mind) The literature is extremely broad and diverse. Selected references will be pointed out in class. Some of these references will constitute a good source for gaining extra credits via surveys or research proposals.
Tentative Schedule:
- October 1: What is channel coding? (Models and Intuition)
- October 8: Linear block codes.
- October 15: Decoding algorithms.
- October 22: Introduction to LDPC codes.
- October 29: LDPC codes in 5G.
- November 5: Open problems and future research.
- November 12: Introduction to Polar codes.
- November 19: Polar codes in 5G.
- November 26: Open problems and future research.