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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 58, NO. 6, JUNE 2012

A Matrix-Theoretic Approach for Analyzing

Quasi-Cyclic Low-Density Parity-Check Codes
Qiuju Diao, Qin Huang, Shu Lin, Life Fellow, IEEE, and Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar

AbstractA matrix-theoretic approach for studying quasi-cyclic

codes based on matrix transformations via Fourier transforms and
row and column permutations is developed. These transformations put a parity-check matrix in the form of an array of circulant
matrices into a diagonal array of matrices of the same size over
an extension field. The approach is amicable to the analysis and
construction of quasi-cyclic low-density parity-check codes since
it takes into account the specific parity-check matrix used for
decoding with iterative message-passing algorithms. Based on this
approach, the dimension of the codes and parity-check matrices
for the dual codes can be determined. Several algebraic and
geometric constructions of quasi-cyclic codes are presented as
applications along with simulation results showing their performance over additive white Gaussian noise channels decoded with
iterative message-passing algorithms.
Index TermsArray of circulants, code construction, Fourier
transform, low-density parity-check (LDPC) code, quasi-cyclic
(QC) code, rank.

I. INTRODUCTION
ANY of the algebraic constructions of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes [10], [11] result in
quasi-cyclic (QC) codes [33], [44], [46]. QC codes have attracted researchers since their inception more than forty years
ago [57]. They asymptotically achieve the VarshamovGilbert
bound [24] and, for certain code lengths and dimensions,
are among the best known codes in terms of their minimum
distances [4], [6], [12][15]. Extensive simulation studies have
shown that QC-LDPC codes have very good error performance
over noisy channels when decoded with message-passing algorithms [3], [8], [9], [18], [20], [21], [23], [26], [29], [30], [38],
[39], [41][43], [46], [50], [51], [60][62]. Furthermore, QC
codes can be encoded efficiently using shift registers [31]. For
all these reasons, QC-LDPC codes are the most promising class
of structured LDPC codes known. Therefore, it is important to

Manuscript received October 24, 2010; revised July 06, 2011; accepted
November 29, 2011. Date of publication January 18, 2012; date of current
version May 15, 2012. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants CCF-0727478 and CCF-1015548, NASA under Grant
NNX09AI21G, and gift grants from Northrop Grumman Space Technology,
Intel, Denali Software, and Cadence. The material in this paper was presented
in part at the 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory.
Q. Diao, S. Lin, and K. Abdel-Ghaffar are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA 95616
USA (e-mail: judiao@ucdavis.edu; shulin@ece.ucdavis.edu; ghaffar@ece.ucdavis.edu).
Q. Huang is with the School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100083, China (e-mail: qhuang.smash@gmail.com).
Communicated by S. Rajan, Associate Editor for Coding Theory.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIT.2012.2184834

study the structural properties of QC codes which are pertinent

to their use as LDPC codes.
The structure of QC codes has been analyzed using the
theory of modules over polynomial rings [7], [28], [34][37].
Grbner basis, Chinese Remainder Theorem, and spectral
techniques have been employed to study, characterize, and
enumerate QC codes and in particular self-dual QC codes.
Interesting constructions related to trellises and lattices have
been obtained. However, most of this work focused on the
codes themselves rather than on their parity-check matrices
and their properties which play an important role vis--vis their
decoding with message-passing algorithms such as the girth of
their Tanner graphs, their stopping sets, and their trapping sets.
These features depend on the underlying parity-check matrix
used for decoding. More recently, Smarandache and Vontobel
[48], [49] used the polynomial approach to study the girth of
Tanner graphs and derive bounds on the minimum distances
based on the parity-check matrices of QC-LDPC codes.
In this paper, we develop an approach which we believe is
amicable to investigate and construct QC-LDPC codes. The approach is matrix-theoretic in nature and allows for incorporating
those features that are associated with a parity-check matrix
of a code. This matrix-theoretic approach generalizes the approach of [22] which led to determining the rank of some maximum-distance-separable (MDS)-based QC-LDPC codes [30],
[33], [61]. The basic component in this approach is representing
each circulant by the Fourier transform of its first row. This was
considered earlier by Tanner [54], [55] and is substantially different from the spectral graph techniques used to bound the minimum distance of codes [56] and their minimum pseudoweights
[47]. The approach in the present paper should be contrasted
with the polynomial approach pursued by Smarandache and
Vontobel [48], [49] which is based on representing each circulant by the -transform of its first row.
In this paper, we consider only QC codes over fields of characteristic two having a parity-check matrix consisting of circulants of odd size. The generalization to other characteristics
which do not divide the size of the circulants is straightforward.
Here, we give a unified coverage of most algebraic constructions
of QC-LDPC codes that appear in the literature.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section II
presents a one-to-one matrix transformation that puts a
parity-check matrix of a QC code over
in the form of an
array of circulants of the same size into a diagonal array of base
matrices of the same size over an extension field in a transform
domain and vice versa. This matrix transformation forms the
basis of our study of QC codes in the transform domain using
spectral techniques. Section III characterizes some structural

0018-9448/$31.00 2012 IEEE

DIAO et al.: MATRIX-THEORETIC APPROACH

4031

properties of parity-check matrices of QC codes in terms of

their base matrices. Section IV presents a spectral technique
to analyze the ranks of the parity-check matrices of QC codes
and the construction of generator matrices. Sections V and
VI analyze the dimensions (or the ranks of the parity-check
matrices) of two specific types of algebraic QC-LDPC codes
constructed in our earlier works. In Section V, a construction
of the generator matrices of one type of algebraic QC-LDPC
codes is presented and their minimum distances are determined.
In Section VI, new constructions of QC-LDPC codes are presented. Example codes are given in both Sections V and VI to
demonstrate that the algebraic QC-LDPC codes perform very
well over the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel
with iterative decoding based on belief propagation. Section VII
shows that a large class of QC finite-geometry codes can also
be constructed using our matrix-theoretic approach. The paper
is concluded in Section VIII with some remarks for possible
future work.
II. MATRIX TRANSFORMATION
parity-check matrix
A binary QC code has an
which is an
array of
binary circulant matrices.
Here, we assume that is odd. Let be a power of 2 such that
is divisible by . (The existence of is guaranteed by the
FermatEuler Theorem [16].)
of order . Let
Let be an element in the finite field
be a vector over
. Its Fourier
, is given by the vector
transform [2], denoted by
whose th component, , for
,
is given by
. The vector , which is called
the inverse Fourier transform of the vector , denoted by
, can be retrieved using the relation
.
,
, be an
circulant maLet
. Then, we write
,
trix over
is the first row of , called the genwhere
erator of . In particular,
, for
,
, for any integer , denotes the nonnegative integer
where
less than and congruent to modulo . Define the following
matrices over
:
and
,
two
. Both
and
are Vandermonde matrices
, where
and nonsingular [2], [45]. Furthermore,
is the
identity matrix. Hence,
is the inverse of
and vice versa. The following lemma says that all circulant matrices can be diagonalized by the same similarity transformation
.
Lemma 1: Let
culant matrix over the finite field
, be an
matrix where
of order . Then,
is an
whose th diagonal element,
i.e.,

be an
cir. Let
,
is an element in
diagonal matrix,
,
, equals
,

In particular, the diagonal vector of

of
.

is the Fourier transform

Proof: Consider the matrix product

matrix over
. For
, the
given by

Then, the matrix product

which is an
entry of

is

can be expressed as follows:

Multiplying both sides of the above equality by

on the right
, we have the result stated in
and using the fact that
the lemma.
The fact that all circulant matrices can be diagonalized using
the same similarity transformation allows us to diagonalize any
array of circulant matrices as shown next.
be an
Lemma 2: Let
circulant matrices over

array of
,
is an
. Define

lant matrix,

Then,
is an
particular,

array of
, where

for

,
Proof: Notice that

is an
array of
From Lemma 1,
the lemma.

, where
circu-

diagonal matrices. In

matrices of the form

.
as specified. This proves

Next, we show that row and column permutations can be performed on

of Lemma 2 to yield an
diagonal array of
matrices.
Lemma 3: Let
,
,
,
. Then,
is a
and
and
is a permutation
permutation on
. Furthermore, permuting the rows and
on
columns of
using
and
, respectively, results in the
which is an
matrix
diagonal array of
matrices
, where
for
, and
.
and
are permutations
Proof: First we prove that
on their respective sets. Clearly, for
, we have
. If
,
, then

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Fig. 1. From array

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 58, NO. 6, JUNE 2012

H of circulants A

This implies that

we conclude that
a permutation on

to an array

divides
, we have
and

of diagonal matrices

. Considering that
, from which
. Hence,
is indeed
with inverse

since
as
proves that
inverse

for
. A similar argument
is a permutation on
with
. The
entry in
is the
entry in the matrix
. Under the row and
and
, respectively,
column permutations specified by
this entry is mapped to the
entry in
. Since
is a diagonal matrix, then for
, the
entry in
is zero. Hence,
is an
diagonal array of
matrices, i.e.,
for some
matrices ,
. To specify , notice that
, then the
entry in
,
if
which equals
, is mapped to the
entry in
, which is the
entry in . Hence

Renaming indices gives

.

for

From Lemma 2, it follows that replacing each

circulant
in the array by a diagonal matrix
whose diagonal
results in
vector is the Fourier transform of the first row of
array
of
diagonal matrices. Performing
the
and column permutation
, as specified
row permutation
in Lemma 3, on the array
results in the
diagonal array
of
matrices. Notice that the superscript denotes
-point Fourier transform and the permutation specified by the
and the column permutation
depends
row permutation
on
and . To simplify notation, the dependences of and
on ,
, and
are suppressed.
through
is reversible. Given an
Transforming to
diagonal array
of
matrices, one can perform row permutation
and column
, the inverses of
and
, respectively, on
permutation
to obtain an
array
of
diagonal matrices.
Replacing each diagonal matrix in
by an
circulant
matrix whose first row is the inverse Fourier transform of the
diagonal vector of the diagonal matrix results in an
array
of
circulant matrices. Thus, we have a
one-to-one correspondence between arrays of circulant matrices

to a diagonal array

of matrices

and vice versa.

and diagonal arrays of matrices as stated in Theorem 1 and depicted in Fig. 1.

between the
Theorem 1: The correspondence
arrays of
circulant matrices and
diagonal
matrices over
where is odd and
arrays of
is one-to-one.
divides
III. STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES
The one-to-one correspondence between arrays
of circulant matrices and diagonal arrays
of matrices stated in Theorem 1
is the basis of our study of QC codes. In essence, we would like
to study and construct QC codes based on the diagonal arrays
associated with their parity-check matrices. For this purpose,
it is important to know how certain structural properties of
parity-check matrices which are arrays of circulants transform
into properties on diagonal arrays of matrices. In particular,
we would like to know the necessary and sufficient conditions
,
that need to be imposed on the matrices
which are generally nonbinary, such that the associated circulant matrices are all binary. Typically, in most constructions
of parity-check matrices of QC-LDPC codes, each circulant
matrix is either a zero matrix or a circulant permutation matrix, i.e., a circulant matrix with exactly one nonzero entry in
each row and each column and this entry is 1. We are interested in necessary and sufficient conditions on the matrices
such that the associated circulant matrices
are circulant permutation or zero matrices.
Another condition which is desirable to impose on the paritycheck matrices of LDPC codes used for iterative decoding is
that their Tanner graphs [53] should have large girth. Based
on extensive simulations, it has been recognized that it suffices for the Tanner graph to have girth at least six to ensure
good performance. This condition is typically imposed on the
parity-check matrix and it is equivalent to the condition that
no two rows (or two columns) have more than one place where
they have nonzero components, i.e., no four nonzero components form the corners of a rectangle. We call this condition on
the rowcolumn (RC) constraint [30], [46].
An LDPC code given by the null space of a sparse paritywith constant column weight and constant
check matrix
row weight is called a
-regular LDPC code. If the parityalso satisfies the RC constraint, we call an
check matrix
-regular LDPC code. The RC constraint
RC-constrained
on not only ensures that the girth of the Tanner graph of the
code given by the null space of is at least 6 but also ensures
[27], [33].
that the minimum distance of the code is at least
is tight for some regular LDPC codes
This distance bound
whose parity-check matrices have large column weights, such

DIAO et al.: MATRIX-THEORETIC APPROACH

as finite geometry LDPC codes [27], [33], [46] and QC-LDPC

codes constructed based on finite fields [23], [30], [46], [50],
[51], [62], [63].
Recall that the inverse Fourier transform
of a vector
over
is binary, i.e.,
for all
, if and only if
for
. This condition on the s is known as the conjugacy constraints [2]. To apply these constraints, it is coninto cyclotomic
venient to partition the set
cosets modulo [40]. The cyclotomic coset containing is
, where is the least positive
integer satisfying
. Each coset has a smallest
member which we call the coset representative. The conjugacy
constraints constrain the components of the Fourier transform
of a binary vector by requiring that all components be powers
of the component whose index is the coset representative.
The Hadamard product [17] of two matrices
and
of the same size, denoted by
, is defined
. The
as their element-wise product, i.e.,
Hadamard product of copies of the matrix , where is a
, is
. We
nonnegative integer, denoted by
allow to equal 0 and in this case
if
is a nonzero
element in
and
if
.
Theorem 2: A necessary and sufficient condition for
to
for
be an array of binary circulant matrices is
.
, where
,
Proof: Let
,
. Then, the vector
is binary if and only if the vector
, which is the Fourier transform of
as specified in Lemma 3, satisfies the conjugacy constraints
. Since
,
,
it follows that all the arrays
are binary if and only if
for
.
Theorem 2 states that binary arrays of circulant matrices correspond to diagonal arrays of matrices satisfying conjugacy con, on the
straints. In particular the matrices,
main diagonal of these diagonal arrays are not arbitrary; they
, i.e., the
entry in
satisfy the condition that
is the square of the
entry in . Thus, all matrices
whose indices are in the same cyclotomic coset are determined by the matrix whose index is the coset representative. We
show next that if we further assume that all circulant matrices
for all
are either permutation or zero matrices, then
.
Let
,
,
, be an
array of
circulant permutation and zero matrices, where
. Then, either
is the
zero matrix or there is a unique index, denoted by , such that
and
for
. In this case, the
entry in
is nonzero if and only if
.
Theorem 3: A necessary and sufficient condition for
to
be an array of circulant permutation and zero matrices is that
for
and each element in the matrix
is
either zero or its order divides .

4033

,
. Clearly,
is zero if and only if its Fourier
is zero. If
is a circutransform
lant permutation matrix, then
,
. On the other hand, if
,
, then
. This sum equals 1
and equals
if
if
since has order . We conclude that
is either a zero
or
or a circulant permutation matrix if and only if
, respectively, for
. This is equivalent to
is either zero or a power of which has
the condition that
, which implies that
.
order and
Proof: Let
where

Theorem 2 tells us that any array

of zero and circulant
permutation matrices is completely specified by the matrix
whose elements are either zeros or have order divisible by .
, then any matrix over
satWe notice that if
. In our previous work [23],
isfies the stated condition on
[30], [50], [51], [62], [63], the constructions of QC-LDPC codes
. In each
were presented based on specifying the matrices
is specified, which we denote by ,
construction, a matrix
and call it the base matrix of the construction. The elements
of the base matrix are denoted by
for
,
. From the proof of Theorem 3, it follows that the
parity-check matrix, , can be specified from the base matrix,
, by replacing the
entry
in by an
circulant
permutation matrix whose first row has a single nonzero comif
, and by an
ponent, which is 1, in position
all-zero matrix if
. It should be noted that if
is a
in [9].
circulant permutation matrix, then it is denoted by
The construction of QC-LDPC codes reduces then to the
construction of base matrices satisfying certain properties
that ensure good performance of LDPC codes for use over a
given channel and decoded with a given decoder. A typical
requirement to ensure this is that the parity-check matrix used
for decoding the LDPC code satisfies the RC constraint. The
following result gives a necessary and sufficient condition on
the base matrix to yield an array of circulant permutation and
zero matrices that satisfies the RC constraint. This result, which
appeared in a different version in [50], is also stated in [48] and
[49] in a form corresponding to the polynomial representation
of the base matrix. For completeness, we state and prove this
result which we will use often in this paper.
Proposition 1: A necessary and sufficient condition for an
array
of circulant permutation and zero matrices to satisfy
the RC constraint, i.e., for the Tanner graph of to have girth
at least six, is that every 2 2 submatrix in the base matrix
contains at least one zero entry or is nonsingular.
Proof: Suppose that the RC constraint is not satisfied, i.e.,
,
,
, and
there are four distinct positions,
, in
that are occupied by four ones. Notice that the
in
is the same as the entry
in
entry in position
, where
,
,
,
the matrix
. Furthermore, if
is a circulant permuand
. Since
is an array
tation matrix, then
of circulant permutation and zero matrices, the four positions

4034

,
,
, and
circulants permutation matrices
. Furthermore,
, and

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 58, NO. 6, JUNE 2012

reside in four different

,
,
, and
,
,
. This implies that
(1)

entry in the base matrix

is
if
is a circulant permutation matrix, then
. Hence,
(1) is equivalent to
,
,
the submatrix of with entries in positions
, and
is singular and has four nonzero entries.
Conversely, if has a singular submatrix with nonzero entries
,
,
, and
, then the
in positions
does not
above argument can be backtracked to show that
satisfy the RC constraint.
Since the

There are several results on the girth of Tanner graphs associated with arrays of circulants. Fossorier [9] gave necessary
conditions for the girth to be at least 6 and 8 and has shown that
it cannot exceed 12. Smarandache and Vontobel [48], [49] presented necessary and sufficient conditions for the girth to be at
least 6 or 8 if the circulants are either permutation or zero matrices and at least 6 if circulants with two nonzero entries in each
row are also allowed. They have also shown in [49] that the girth
is at most 8 if contains two circulants in the same row or the
same column where each circulant has at least two nonzero entries in each row and at most 6 if contains a circulant with at
least three nonzero entries in each row.
,
, be an
Let
array of
circulant permutation and zero matrices con,
structed from the base matrix
. Then,
, where
which is 1 if
,
,
and 0 otherwise. Hence, if
, then multiand
results in replacing
by a circulant matrix
plying it by
th row in
or, equivalently,
whose th row is the
th column in
. Thus, mulwhose th column is the
tiplying the th row in by a power of results in an
array of
circulant permutation and zero matrices obtained
in
by permuting row numbers
. Of course, the two arrays, as matrices over
, have the
same null space and their Tanner graphs are identical up to renaming of check nodes. On the other hand, multiplying the th
array of
column in by a power of results in an
circulant permutation and zero matrices obtained by perin . The
muting column numbers
codes given by the null spaces of these two arrays, as matrices
, are equivalent. Furthermore, their Tanner graphs
over
are identical up to renaming of variable nodes.
, then multiplying it by zero results in replacing
If
by the zero matrix. This procedure, known as masking, was
used in previous work to optimize the column and row weights
of the parity-check matrices and to reduce the number of short
cycles in the Tanner graphs of the constructed codes [5], [30],
[33], [46], [59]. This is accomplished by judiciously designing
binary matrix
,
,
,
an

which we call a masking matrix. After masking, we obtain the

, whose
entry
masked matrix
if
and equals zero if
.
equals
IV. DIMENSIONS, DUALS, AND GENERATOR
MATRICES OF QC CODES
The one-to-one correspondence between arrays of circulant
matrices and diagonal arrays of matrices, specified in Theorem
1, can be used to determine the rank of an array of circulant
matrices and a matrix , which is also an array of circulants,
whose row space is the null space of . If is a parity-check
matrix of a code , then is a parity-check matrix of the dual
code of . In case has full rank, it is a generator matrix of ;
otherwise, a subset of its rows forms a generator matrix. In any
case, the rank of equals the dimension of the dual code of
and the dimension of is its length minus the rank of .
Theorem 4: Let
matrices. Then,

be an

array of
circulant
, where

.
Vandermonde matrix
defined
Proof: Since the
and
in Section II is nonsingular, Lemma 2 implies that
have the same rank. Furthermore,
is obtained by row and
and, therefore, they also have the
column permutations on
.
same rank. From Lemma 3,
In particular,
.
In the following theorem, we show how to construct a paritycirculant matrices,
check matrix , which is an array of
for the dual code of a QC code characterized by its parity-check
array of
circulant matrices.
matrix , which is an
The idea is to use the correspondence in Fig. 1 to obtain the
from by applying Fourier transforms followed
matrix
and
on the rows and columns,
by the permutations
respectively, i.e., by moving from left to right in Fig. 1. For the
, being an
diagonal array of
matrices,
matrix
it is straightforward to obtain a matrix , which is also an
diagonal array of matrices with rank
such that
. The matrices on the diagonal of
are of size
, where
is an arbitrary sufficiently large integer.
and
on the rows and
Applying the inverse permutations
columns, respectively, of the matrix followed by the Fourier
, which is the desired matrix
transform yields a matrix,
. Notice that going from to
we move from right to
left in Fig. 1 although we apply the Fourier transform rather than
the inverse Fourier transform. The procedure to construct is
described in the following theorem and justified in its proof.
Theorem 5: Let
lant matrices and

be an

are
integer not less than

Let
and

array of
matrices. Let

circu, where
be a positive

be an
matrix of rank
for
. Let
be after applying the permutations

on the rows and columns of

, respectively. Then,

such that
and

DIAO et al.: MATRIX-THEORETIC APPROACH

4035

. In particular, and are orthog, if and only if

and
are orthogonal,
. This implies that
if and only if
. Furthermore, if is a vector in the null space
, then
is in the null space of
.
of a matrix over
, a field of characteristic two,
Since squaring elements in
has the same dimension as
is one-to-one, the null space of
. Similarly,
that of , i.e.,
. Hence, if
, then
.
onal, i.e.,
i.e.,

is an
array of
and
then the matrices
is binary.
Proof: Since

circulant matrices such that

. Furthermore, if is binary,
can be selected such that

, and
. Furthermore,
and columns of

using the permutations

,
for

, then

. Permuting the rows

and
, respec-

tively, yields the

array
of diagonal matrices;
is replaced by
. Resee Lemma 3 and its proof where
by a circulant matrix
placing each diagonal matrix in
whose first row is the Fourier transform of the diagonal vector
array
;
in the diagonal matrix yields an
. The
see Lemma 2 and its proof where is replaced by
to
preserve the rank.
transformations leading from
. Finally, since
Hence,
and the same column permutation
transforms
into
and
into , we have
.
are symmetric, it follows
Using the fact that both and
that

We notice that if

has rank

, i.e., it has full rank, then

. Since for each matrix
, being of size
, we have
, it follows
for
. Hence,
, which has
that
, can be chosen to be of size
rank
. The rank of , which is an
array of
circulants, is then
,
i.e., has full rank.
and the
In general, the matrix depends on the choices of
. These choices are based on how
matrices
is used. For example, it can be used for encoding the code , to
study the minimum distance of the code, or as a parity-check
matrix to decode the dual code of .
Next, we consider a characterization of the codewords in a
QC code with a parity-check matrix , which is an array of
be a binary sequence
circulants. Let
, where
,
,
of length
is a binary vector of length . Then, is a codeword in if and
only if
. We have

where

If
is binary, then one can constrain
to be binary by
choosing, for each cyclotomic coset leader , an
matrix
of rank
such that
. If
, i.e., and are in the same cyclotomic coset,
, modulo , then define
. Theorem 2 implies
is binary and since
is binary we have
,
that
. It remains to show that
and
where
for every
and every
coset representative . Using induction on , it suffices to show
and
that
if
and
. Suppose
and
that
are vectors over
. Then,

can be written as
and
is the inverse
is a
Fourier transform of . Since
nonsingular diagonal matrix, it follows that is a codeword in
if and only if
. Applying the permutations
and
on the rows and columns, respectively, of
to obtain the matrix
and the permutation
on
to obtain
, it follows that
the elements of
is a codeword in if and only if
. We can write
, where
and
. Since is a binary sequence,
should satisfy the conjugacy constraints
for
. As
, we have the
following result which characterizes the codewords in a QC
code in the transform domain.
Theorem 6: Let be a binary QC code with a parity-check
matrix
which is an
array of
circu,
lant matrices and
where
are
matrices. Then,

4036

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 58, NO. 6, JUNE 2012

and

if

is a codeword in
for all

if and only
where
,
,

,
, and

. The column and row

except for a single 1 at position
and , respectively.
weights of are
Consider an arbitrary 2 2 submatrix of

.
V. RANK ANALYSIS OF THE PARITY-CHECK MATRICES
OF TYPE-I ALGEBRAIC QC-LDPC CODES
In this and the next section, we give examples of parity-check
,
matrices of two types of algebraic QC-LDPC codes over
which are arrays of circulant permutation and zero matrices,
constructed based on base matrices over nonbinary fields. These
QC-LDPC codes were presented in our previous work [5], [23],
[30], [50], [51], [62], [63] and simulations in the cited work
showed excellent performance and low error floor over AWGN
channels as well as erasure channels with message-passing
algorithms. These two types of codes are constructed using
two different forms of base matrices. The base matrices of
the QC-LDPC codes of the first type are given in the form
of Vandermonde matrices. In a special case, the base matrix
for code construction is simply the conventional parity-check
matrix of a ReedSolomon (RS) code in terms of the roots
of its generator polynomial. The base matrices of QC-LDPC
codes of the second type are matrices whose entries are given as
differences (or sums) of two field elements. The fields for both
types of code constructions are restricted to be of characteristic
.
2, i.e., extension fields of
In this section, we first analyze the rank of the parity-check
matrix of a Type-I QC-LDPC code and give a combinatorial
expression for the rank. For a special case, we give a generator
matrix of the code in the form of arrays of circulant and zero
matrices and determine its minimum distance.
where
Let be an odd positive integer which divides
is a power of 2. Let be a prime factor of . Let
and
be two positive integers with
. Let be an
of order and
. Then, the order
element in
of is . We construct a binary
array, , of
circulant permutation matrices from the base matrix defined as
follows:

..
.

..
.

Notice that for

,
trix of a nonprimitive
minimum distance

..
.

..

..
.

(2)

is the conventional parity-check maRS code over

with
whose generator polynomial has
as roots.
Since all the entries of are nonzero, the parity-check matrix
constructed from is an
array of circulant permu, with no zero matrices. This paritytation matrices of size
check matrix is obtained by replacing the entry
by a circulant permutation matrix whose first row is all-zeros

where
and
determinant of this submatrix is

. The

which is nonzero since

and has
prime order . Hence, from Proposition 1, it follows that , as
matrix over
, satisfies the RC
an
-regular
constraint. The null space of gives a binary
with minimum distance at
QC-LDPC code of length
least
whose Tanner graph has a girth at least 6.
, for
To find the rank of , notice that the matrix
, is given by
, which is a Vandermonde
, , and the order of
matrix. Its rank is the minimum of
. The order of
is
. Since is a prime, then
if is divisible by and
if otherwise. Hence, the rank of
is 1 if is divisible by
and
otherwise. There are
precisely
integers ,
, which are divisible by .
From Theorem 4, it follows that
(3)
Let be the QC-LDPC code whose parity-check matrix is .
An array , which is a parity-check matrix for the dual code of
, is characterized by the matrices
, as stated
in Theorem 5, where
is an
matrix and

such that
for
. Here, we take
.
The matrix
should have rank
, i.e.,
if
is divisible by and
otherwise, and should
for
. Furthermore, if is binary,
satisfy
for
then from Theorem 5, we should have
.
We determine a generator matrix and the minimum distance
. Then, the rank of
is
if
of the code in case
is divisible by and zero otherwise. If is divisible by , let
, where is an
identity matrix and
is a column vector of
ones. If is not divisible by , then
, the all-zero
matrix. It is easy to check that
is
,
, and
the rank of
for
. Then,
,
, where
is an
circulant matrix. The entries
are given by the Fourier
transform
, for
and
, where
is the
entry of the matrix
.
is zero unless is divisible by and either
This entry
or
, in which case it equals 1. Hence,
is zero

DIAO et al.: MATRIX-THEORETIC APPROACH

4037

Fig. 2. Error performances of the (5080, 4575) and the (16129, 15372) QC-LDPC codes given in Example 1.

unless is divisible by
and either
which case it equals 1. In particular

..
.

..
.

..

or

..
.

, in

..
.

where
is an
circulant matrix with equally spaced 1s in each
array of
circulants
row. The matrix is an
of rank
.
To obtain a parity-check matrix of full rank for the dual code
of , which is a generator matrix for the code itself, notice
that the first
rows in
are linearly independent and any
rows. Hence, by deleting all rows
other row is one of the first
, from , we obtain an
with indices such that
generator matrix of full rank for the code .
This matrix can be used for encoding . From the structure of
this matrix, it follows that the minimum distance of the code is
in case
.
, the base matrix
We notice that, in the special case
given above is identical to the base matrix in Method-2 given
in [30] (see also [46]) except that the columns are multiplied
. As
by consecutive powers of , i.e.,
stated earlier, such multiplications do not change the rank of
the parity-check matrix. The construction gives an
parity-check matrix, which is an
array of
circulant permutation matrices. From (3), the rank of
.
this parity-check matrix is
Example 1: Let
be the field for constructing the base
is a prime,
matrix given by (2). Since
. Let
and
. Based on (2), we construct a
. Using this base matrix, we
4 40 base matrix over
can construct a binary 4 40 array of 127 127 circulants.
is a 508 5080 RC-constrained matrix with column and row

weights 4 and 40, respectively. From (3), the rank of is 505.

Hence, the null space of gives a (4,40)-regular (5080,4575)
QC-LDPC code of rate 0.9006 whose Tanner graph has girth
of at least 6. The bit and block error performances of this code
over the AWGN channel with 50 iterations of the sumproduct
algorithm (SPA) [46] are shown in Fig. 2. At the BER (bit-error
, the code performs 1.2 dB from the Shannon limit
rate) of
and at the block-error rate (BLER) of
, it performs 0.8 dB
from the sphere packing bound.
and
. Then, the base
Suppose we choose
matrix B constructed from (2) is a 6 127 matrix over
which is the conventional parity-check matrix of the (127,121)
. The parity-check matrix constructed
RS code over
from this base matrix is a binary 6 127 array of 127 127 circulant permutation matrices which is a 762 16129 RC-constrained matrix over
with column and row weights 6
and 127, respectively. From (3), the rank of this matrix is 757
and hence its null space gives a (6,127)-regular (16129,15372)
QC-LDPC code of rate 0.953. The bit and block error performances of this code over the AWGN channel with 50 iterations
of the SPA are also shown in Fig. 2. We see that at the BER of
, the code performs 0.95 dB from the Shannon limit.
Example 2: (Continue Example 1) Suppose we choose
and
and construct a 32 64 base matrix
over
. Design a 32 64
over
masking matrix
with column and row weight distributions close to the following
variable-node and check-node degree distributions (node perspective) of a Tanner graph which is designed for an irregular
code of rate 1/2:

where the coefficient of

represents the percentage of nodes
. The matrix
has 32 columns of
with degree

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Fig. 3. Error performance of the (8128, 4064) QC-LDPC code given in Example 2.

degree 2, 20 columns of degree 3, 9 columns of degree 8, 3

columns of degree 30, 2 rows of degree 8, and 30 rows of degree
yields the masked
9. Masking the base matrix with
matrix

Next we use
as the base matrix and construct a 32 64
of circulant permutation and zero matrices of
array
is 4064 8128 matrix with column and
size 127 127.
row weight distributions close to the degree distributions given
gives an irregular (8128,4064)
above. The null space of
QC-LDPC code with rate 0.5. The error performance of this
irregular QC-LDPC code over the AWGN channel with 50
,
iterations of the SPA is shown in Fig. 3. At the BER of
the code performs 1 dB from the Shannon limit and at the
, it performs 0.6 dB from the sphere packing
BLER of
bound.
Next, we consider another construction which appeared in
[30] based on the additive groups of prime fields. Although
this construction may seem to be quite different from the one
considered in this section, a closer look reveals that they are
be a prime. Then, the set of integers,
closely related. Let
, forms the prime field
under moduloaddition and multiplication. Define
,
. Then,
is an
matrix over
where
. Replace the
entry, for
, in
by a
circulant permutation matrix whose first row is all-zeros
. This gives an
except for a single 1 at position
parity-check matrix which is an
array of
circulant
permutation matrices. To show that this construction, which appears in [30], is closely related to the construction specified by
the base matrix given in (2), let be a power of 2 such that
is divisible by and set
. Replace the
entry,
, in
by
, where is an element in
for

of order . Then, we obtain the base matrix given in (2). Reby a circulant permutation matrix whose
placing the entry
first row is all-zeros except for a single 1 at position
gives
the same parity-check matrix constructed in [30] based on the
,
additive groups of prime fields and, in the special case
the parity-check matrix of array codes [8]. From (3), the rank of
.
this parity-check matrix is
VI. RANK ANALYSIS OF THE PARITY-CHECK
MATRICES OF TYPE-II ALGEBRAIC QC-LDPC
CODES AND NEW CONSTRUCTIONS
In this section, we analyze the ranks of the parity-check matrices of algebraic QC-LDPC codes of Type-II. This type of
QC-LDPC codes contains several classes of codes constructed
in our previous work as subclasses [23], [30], [50], [51], [62]. In
addition to our analysis of the ranks of the parity-check matrices
of these known classes of codes, we present new constructions.
Our approach here follows that of Kamiya and Sasaki [22] who
derived an expression for the rank of a class of Type-II codes,
called MDS codes of length
. Here, we consider different
variations of this class.
Again we consider codes constructed based on fields of
characteristic 2. Let
and be a primitive element
of
, where is a power of 2. We denote the elements
of
in possibly two different ways
and
. For
, the base matrix of a
Type-II QC-LDPC code is defined as the following
matrix over
:

..
.

..
.

..

..
.
(4)

DIAO et al.: MATRIX-THEORETIC APPROACH

4039

where each entry is the difference between two elements in

. We readily see that every row and every column has at
most one single zero and no two zeros appear in the same row
or the same column.
array of circulant permutation and zero
Let be the
constructed based on the base
matrices of size
matrix given by (5). is an
matrix over
with two possible column weights
or
and two
possible row weights
or
. Consider a 2 2 submatrix
composed of the entries at locations
,
,
,
and
of with
. The
determinant of this 2 2 submatrix is given by

which is nonzero since the s are distinct and the s are

distinct. Hence, from Proposition 1, it follows that
satisfies
the RC constraint. Consequently, the null space of
gives an
RC-constrained QC-LDPC code whose Tanner graph has girth
at least 6. If does not contain zero entries, then has constant
column weight and constant row weight. In this case, the null
space of gives a regular QC-LDPC code. Otherwise, the null
space of gives a near-regular QC-LDPC code.
The above construction covers many of the constructions that
we developed in our previous work. For example, we presented in
[23] and [50] a construction based on additive subgroups of finite
fields in which the base matrix is
where the s and
the s form two additive subgroups of finite fields with zero as
the only common element. Furthermore, the construction based
on primitive elements in [50] has a base matrix whose
entry
is
where the s and the s are primitive elements
in
. This base matrix can be obtained from the base matrix
given by (5) by dividing the th row in by . The same holds
for the construction based on cyclic subgroups of finite fields in
[50] which has a base matrix whose
entry is
,
where the s are distinct nonzero elements that form a cyclic
group in
, the s are distinct nonzero elements that form
a cyclic group in
and the two groups have only the unit element in common. As argued at the end of Section III, dividing
the th row in by does not change the resulting code. In general, the code is characterized by the sets
and
. If
and are elements in
,
then the code characterized by the sets
and
, where
and
, is
equivalent to the first code.
Let
and
with
. Set
. Then, the base matrix given by (5) takes the
following form:

is exactly the same base matrix of Method-1 given in [30]

for constructing QC-LDPC codes. Notice that each column and
each row of
contains one and only one zero element which is
. We further notice that
is a
circulant.
Using
as the base matrix, we can construct a
array
of circulant permutation and zero matrices of size
.
contains exactly
zero matrices of
size
. Consider a 2 2 submatrix composed
of the entries at locations
,
,
, and
of
with
. Then, the
determinant of this 2 2 submatrix is given by

which is nonzero since has order

. It follows from Proposition 1 that , as a
matrix over
,
satisfies the RC constraint. Any subarray of also satisfies the
RC constraint. For any pair of positive integers
with
, let
be an
subarray of
. Then,
is an
matrix over
and its null space gives a QC-LDPC code whose Tanner
graph has girth of at least 6.
Now we determine the rank of the parity-check matrix
constructed based on the
base matrix
, given in (4). We first find
the rank of
for
. Since every
row and every column in has at most a single zero, it follows
that
is an
matrix of 1s, except for
zeros no
two of which are in the same row or the same column, for some
. It is straightforward to check that
the rank of
is given by
if
if
otherwise.
For example, if
rank of
is
the rank of

is odd

, then

(6)

and the

. If

and
, then
while if

is

, then
the rank of
is
. If
and
then
and the rank of
is
rank of
is also
if
and
.
These conclusions can be summarized as follows:

and
and
and
,
. The

(7)
If we multiply the rows of by consecutive powers of
), we obtain the following base matrix:

..
.

..
.

..

(i.e.,
For

..
.

, we notice that
and we can write

..
.
(5)

..
.

..

..
.

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 58, NO. 6, JUNE 2012

..
.

..
.

..

..
.

..
.

..
.

..

..
.

..
.

In particular,
from Theorem 4 that

..

..
.

..

..

..
.

..
.

..
.

..

..
.

or

..
.

..
.

(8)

..
.

if the binomial coefficient

is even and
where
if
is odd. It is known, from Lucas Theorem [1], [2], that
is odd if and only if
for all
, where
,
are uniquely defined by the binary expansions
and
. Let
. Then,
, where
is the Hamming weight
of the binary expansion of . Let
,
where
. It follows from (8)
that
, where

..
.

..
.

..
.

(9)

. We conclude

In either case, the matrix has full rank based on its Vandermonde
may
structure. (It should be pointed out that the matrix
not have full rank if the s do not form a set of consecutive
. For example, let
powers of a primitive element in
and be a primitive element in
which is a root of
and
,
,
, and
.
For
, we have
and, in this case
has
rank three.)
The same conclusion holds for the matrix
, i.e., this matrix has full rank if the nonzero s,
, form a set of
consecutive powers of a primitive element in
regardless
of whether one or none of the s,
, is zero. In particular, if
or , then the nonzero s,
,
. Furare consecutive powers of a primitive element in
thermore, if
, then
and
for
. We conclude, in case
or and
the nonzero s form a set of consecutive powers of a primitive
element in
, that the rank of
is
for
and it follows from (10) that

(11)
(10)
where
is given by (6).
In the following, we consider some special cases. For
, if
and
have full ranks and at least one
of them has rank
, then
.
Notice that
has full rank if the nonzero s,
, form a set of consecutive powers of a primitive element
regardless of whether one or none of the s,
in
, is zero. Indeed, in this case, by properly permuting
the rows of
which has no effect on the rank, we may assume that
,
, for some integer ,
and either
if none of the s is zero and
if one of them is zero. Then, by dividing the th
,
, for
, by
column in
, we either obtain
or
depending on whether or not all the
s are nonzero, respectively. After this division, the resulting
matrix is either

In the following, we determine

. Let
, i.e.,
is the largest integer such that
. Then, with
, we have

DIAO et al.: MATRIX-THEORETIC APPROACH

4041

where
. Hence, from Theorem 4, the rank of the conbase matrix is
.
structed matrix based on this
The code whose parity-check matrix is has length
and
dimension
.
Suppose that
and let
for
,
, and
for
. Delete the
th column corresponding to
from the matrix in (14).
Multiplying the th column in the resulting
matrix by
for
and by
for
results in the
following
base matrix:
(12)
Together with (6) and (11), we obtain an expression for the rank
or and the nonzero s form a set of
of in case
consecutive powers of a primitive element in
. Actually,
in this case, if
, then we obtain the expression for
or ,
the rank as given in [22]. In particular, if
then the nonzero s
, are consecutive powers
of a primitive element in
. Using (12) and noticing that
and
, the
sum
is determined to be
in
the case
. From (7) and (11), we obtain

(13)
In case
, the code whose parity-check matrix
constructed from the base matrix has length
and
dimension
. It
should be noted that the code can be extended to be of length
by appending a column of ones to
the matrix in (4). This yields a base matrix of the form

..
.

..
.

..

....
..

(14)
where the s and the s are the elements of
. The constructed from this base matrix also satisfies the RC constraint.
Its rank can be computed from Theorem 4. The rank of
,a
binary matrix with zeros no two of which are in
a row or on a column, equals as given by (6). To find the rank
of
for
, we notice that this matrix can be
to the
written as in (8) after appending the column
last matrix. From this we conclude that
, where
is the same as in (9) and
is obtained by appending
the column
to
in (9). Both
and
have rank
. Hence,
for
.
Summing over
, we get

..
.

..
.

..

..
.

..
.

(15)
The rows of
are actually
codewords of the extended
RS code over
with two information symbols
and minimum distance
. The first
codewords have
weight
and the last row has weight . The parity-check
matrix constructed from the base matrix
given in (15) is
a
array
of
circulant permutation
and zero matrices. It is a
matrix over
with constant column weight
and two different
and . The matrix is RC constrained. For
row weights
, the rank of
is
. The null space of
gives
a QC-LDPC code with the following parameters: 1) length
; 2) dimension
; and 3) minimum
distance at least .
Consider the parity check matrix with the base matrix
given in (5). Let
. Then, it follows from the analysis
given above that the rank of
of is
. Since
is an
RC-constrained
matrix over
with
both column and row weights
, the null space of gives a
-regular QC-LDPC code of length
with
minimum distance at least
. The dimension of this code
is
.
be the field for code construction.
Example 3: Let
Based on (5), we form a 63 63 base matrix
over
.
, we can construct a 63 63 array
of 63 63
Using
is
circulant permutation and zero matrices of size 63 63.
an RC-constrained 3969 3969 matrix over
with both
is
.
column and row weights 62. The rank of
The null space of
gives a (62,62)-regular (3969,3243)
QC-LDPC code of rate 0.817 and minimum distance at least
63. The error performance of the code over the AWGN channel
with 50 iterations of the SPA is shown in Fig. 4. At the BER of
, the code performs 1.6 dB from the Shannon limit and at
the BLER of
, it performs 1.2 dB from the sphere packing
bound.
from , say the
Suppose we take a 6 63 subarray
first 6 rows of circulant permutation and zero matrices. This subcontains 6 zero matrices in 6 different columns,
array
and no two in the same row.
is a 378 3969 matrix
with constant row weight 62 but two different column weights 5
and 6. From (6), (11), and (12), we find that the rank of
is 324. Thus, the null space of
gives a near-regular

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 58, NO. 6, JUNE 2012

Fig. 4. Error performances of the (3969, 3243) and the (3969, 3645) QC-LDPC codes given in Example 3.

(3969,3645) QC-LDPC code of rate 0.918 whose Tanner graph

has girth of at least 6. The error performance of the code over
AWGN channel with 50 iterations of the SPA is also shown in
, the code performs 1.2 dB from the
Fig. 4. At the BER of
Shannon limit and at the BLER of
, it performs 0.8 dB from
the sphere packing bound.
In the following, we present a new Type-II base matrix for the
parity-check matrix of a QC-LDPC code. Consider the general
,
form of a Type-II base matrix given by (4). Let
,
, and
where
.
Then, the base matrix is a
matrix over
with the
following form:
..
.

..

..
.

..
.

(16)

This base matrix actually forms a Latin square of order over

. A Latin square of order [32] is an
array in
which each row and each column contains every element of a
set of distinct objects exactly once. It can be easily proved
is nonzero.
that the determinant of any 2 2 submatrix of
Every row and every column of
contain one and only one
be the
array of
zero element. Let
circulant permutation and zero matrices constructed based on
. Then, every row and every column of
contains one and
is a
matrix
only one zero matrix and
over
with both column and row weights
. Since
the determinant of any 2 2 submatrix of the base matrix
in nonzero, Proposition 1 ensures that
satisfies the RC
constraint. It follows from the rank analysis given above for
that the rank of
is
. Thus the
null space of gives an RC-constrained QC-LDPC code with
the following parameters: 1) length
;
2) dimension
; and 3) minimum distance at

is
but
has
rows.
least . The rank of
Therefore, has
redundant rows. For large ,
has large row redundancy which enhances the performance
of the code with iterative decoding.
and be two positive integers with
.
Let
be any
subarray of given by (16).
Let
Then,
can be used as a base matrix to construct a
which is an
array of
parity-check matrix
circulant permutation and zero matrices of size
.
constructed based on
given in (16).
It is a subarray of
is an
matrix with
Hence,
two possible column weights
or
and two possible
or
. The null space of
gives
row weights
an RC-constrained QC-LDPC code with minimum distance at
least
whose Tanner graph has girth at least 6. For
,
can be deterthe rank of the parity-check matrix
mined from (6), (11), and (12). For a given field
with
as a power of 2, using the base matrix given by (16) and its
submatrices, a family of RC-constrained QC-LDPC codes can
be constructed.
be field for code construction.
Example 4: Let
over
of the form
Construct a 64 64 base matrix
given in (16). Based on , we construct a 64 64 array
of
is
63 63 circulant permutation and zero matrices. Then,
with both column and row
a 4032 4032 matrix over
weights 63. The rank of is
. The null space of
gives a (63,63)-regular (4032,3304) QC-LDPC code of rate
0.819 and minimum distance at least 64. The bit and block error
performances of this code over the AWGN channel decoded
with 50 iterations of the SPA are shown in Fig. 5. At the BER of
, the code performs 1.6 dB from the Shannon limit and at
, it performs 1.2 dB from the sphere packing
the BLER of
bound.
from , say
Suppose we take a 6 64 submatrix
the first 6 rows of , and use it as a base matrix to form a

DIAO et al.: MATRIX-THEORETIC APPROACH

4043

Fig. 5. Error performances of the (4032, 3304) and the (4032, 3708) QC-LDPC codes given in Example 4.

parity-check matrix
which is 6 64 subarray of
constructed from . Then,
is a 378 4032 RC-constrained matrix with constant row weight 63 and two column
weights 5 and 6. From (6), (11), and (12), the rank of
is 324. Thus, the null space of
gives a (4032,3708)
QC-LDPC code of rate 0.92. The error performance of this code
over the AWGN channel decoded with 50 iterations of the SPA
, the code performs
is also shown in Fig. 5. At the BER of
1.15 dB from the Shannon limit and at the BLER of
, it
performs 0.8 dB from the sphere packing bound.
VII. QC EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY LDPC CODES
In the previous two sections, we applied our matrix-theoretic
approach to construct LDPC codes from base matrices. In this
section, we will do the opposite and deconstruct LDPC codes
to obtain their base matrices. From these base matrices, we can
construct a class of QC-LDPC codes which is much larger than
the class we started with. The codes we are considering here are
RC-constrained cyclic Euclidean geometry codes specified by
2-D Euclidean geometries over fields of characteristic 2.
over
Consider the 2-D Euclidean geometry
[32], [33], [46]. This geometry consists of
points
lines. A point in
is simply a two-tuple
and
over
and the zero two-tuple
is
is simply a 1-D subspace
called the origin. A line in
or a coset of a 1-D subspace of the vector space of all the
two-tuples over
. A line consists of points. If a point
is on a line in
, we say that the line passes
are connected
through the point . Any two points in
by a line. Two points are connected by one and only one line
. For every point in
, there are
in
lines that intersect at (or pass through) the point .
, as an extension field of the ground field
The field
, is a realization of
. Let
be a primitive
element of
. Then, the powers of ,

, give all the

elements of
and
they represent the
points of
. The 0-element rep. Factor
as
resents the origin of
. Let
. The order of is
. Then,
form a subfield of
and can be regarded as the ground field for
.
be the subgeometry obtained from
Let
by removing the origin and the
lines passing through the
nonorigin points
origin. This subgeometry consists of
and
lines not passing through the origin. Let and
be two nonzero independent points in
. Then, these
points can be represented by two nonzero elements of
such that
for all
. Then,
,
, is a line in
consisting of
points of
,
which are represented by powers of . Let
be a line in
. For
, let
. Then,
is also a
line in
and
give all the
lines in
[33], [46], [52]. This structure of
lines is called cyclic structure.
. Based on , we define the folLet be a line in
-tuple over
,
,
lowing
nonorigin points
whose components correspond to the
of
, where
if
is a
otherwise. It is clear that the weight of
point on and
is . This
-tuple
over
is called the incidence vector of the line [33]. Due to the cyclic structure of
, the incidence vector
of the line
the lines in
is the cyclic-shift (one place to the right) of the incidence vector
of the line .
Form a
matrix
over
with the
incidence vectors of the
lines,
,
as rows. Then,
is a
cirof
with both column and row weights .
culant over

4044

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 58, NO. 6, JUNE 2012

VECTOR

=(

l ;l ;

...

TABLE I
;l

) IN THE CASES = 2, 3, 4, AND 5

can be obtained by using the incidence vector

of the line
as the generator and cyclically shifting
times. Since
have at most one point in common, their
two lines in
incidence vectors have at most one position where they both
satisfies the RC conhave 1-component. Consequently,
straint and its null space gives a cyclic EG-LDPC code
of
[27], [33], [46] whose Tanner graph has
length
is exactly
girth of at least 6. The minimum distance of
and the rank of
is equal to
[25], [27], [33].
It was also established that the cyclic EG-LDPC code
conhas no harmful trapping sets of size
structed from
(or pseudocodewords of weight) less than the minimum weight
[19], [58]. Extensive simulation results have shown that
the cyclic EG-LDPC codes perform very well over the AWGN
channel decoded with various message-passing algorithms and
have very low error floors. Since these codes are cyclic, their
encoding is very simple and can be implemented with a simple
feedback shift register [33].
Cyclic EG-LDPC codes form a small classes of LDPC codes.
Every Euclidean geometry over a finite field gives a single cyclic
EG-LDPC code. In the following, we show that for a given Euclidean geometry, a family of QC-EG-LDPC codes can be constructed by using a base matrix.
of
Consider the incidence vector
. It has
-components. Let
any line in
and
. Divide
into sections. For
, the
th section consists of components of
as follows:
. Let
. The
is a
-tuple over
obtained by pervector
muting the components of the incidence vector
. It is a permuted incidence vector of the line . In a separate paper [19],
consists of only zero-compowe prove that one section of
has a single 1-component.
nents and every other section of
Indeed, suppose that
has two 1-components in positions
and , where
, i.e.,
.
, we have
Then, for some distinct elements
and
. This
implies that
, contradicting
the assumption that and are independent. This proves that
has
every section has at most a single 1-component. Since
sections and has weight , then there is exactly one
section of only zero-components. Let
be that section which
we call the zero-section of line .
can be expressed as
,
.
Every component in
Let be the location of the single 1-component of the nonzero
section
, i.e.,
for
and
for
.
, we set
. For each nonzero
For the zero section
, we take its Fourier
section,
, where for
transform,

,
. Since only
and all the other
components in
are zero, we have
,
and
. For the zero section
,
.
and
, we form the -tuple
For
over
and
the corresponding vector
, where
. From the cyclic structure of lines, we
for every line
in
.
can determine the vector
and
, the component at
Indeed, for
position
in the incidence vector of is 1 if and only
in the incidence
if the component at position
is 1. The first component resides at the th position
vector of
while the second component resides
in the th section of
at the
th position in the
th section
. It follows that if
, then
of
. In particular, if is a multiple of
, then
for
, i.e.,
is obtained
by
. On the other hand, for
,
by multiplying
we have

Form the following

matrix over
:

..
.

..
.

..
.

..

..
.

..
.

(17)
is taken modulo . From the structure
where the power
of shown previously, we see that every row is a cyclic-shift
of the row above but when the rightmost component is shifted
around to the leftmost position, it is multiplied by . Therefore, in forming the matrix , we only need a line (any line)
. Every row and every column contains one and
in
only one zero element. The matrix has both column and row
weights
.
forms a base matrix for a QC code with
The matrix
constructed as follows. Reparity-check matrix
of ,
, by a
place each nonzero entry
circulant permutation matrix over
whose 1-component of the top row is at the th position and
zero matrix. This gives
each zero entry by a
array
of circulant permutation and
a

DIAO et al.: MATRIX-THEORETIC APPROACH

4045

Fig. 6. Error performances of the (63, 37) QC-LDPC code given in Example 5.

zero matrices of size

. Notice that
is
by row and column permutations. Hence,
obtained from
and
are combinatorially equivalent and have
. Since
is RC constrained,
the same rank
is also RC constrained. The null space of
gives a
which is equivalent to the cyclic
QC-EG-LDPC code
EG-LDPC code
and has minimum distance
. Notice
is completely determined by the
that the structure of
of a single line in
. In Table I, we give
vector
, 3, 4, and 5.
such a vector for
For any pair of integers,
with
,
be an
subarray of
. The null
let
gives a QC-LDPC code
space of
of length
and minimum distance at least
if
contains no zero matrix. QC-EG-LDPC codes
of the above form were first presented in [21] using a different
approach and their dimensions were derived in [22].
over
Example 5: Let the 2-D Euclidean geometry
be the geometry for code construction. Let be a primitive element of
. Then,
give all the elements of
which represent the 64 points of
. Factor
as the product
and
, i.e.,
. Let
. Then, the order of is 7 and
the set
forms the subfield,
,
. The two points represented by and are indepenof
for all
). Consider the line
dent (i.e.,
,
with
.
This line consists of the points,
,
(using [33, Table 6.2] for computation). The incidence
and
of this line has 1-components at the locations 0, 6,
vector
into nine sections, each
30, 40, 41, 44, 56, and 61. Divide
consisting of seven components as follows:

where

Based on the Fourier

sections, we find the

Then, the base matrix

codes is given by

. Then, for

transforms of these
following nine-tuples
:

nine
over

for constructing QC-EG-LDPC

Replacing each nonzero entry of by a 7 7 circulant permutation matrix whose first row has a one-component in position and each zero entry by a 7 7 zero matrix, we obtain a
of circulant permutation and zero matrices
9 9 array
of size of 7 7. Then,
is a 63 63 matrix of rank 26
with both column and row weights 8. Its null space gives a (63,
37) QC-EG-LDPC code with minimum distance 9. Its error performance over the AWGN channel with 50 iterations of the SPA

4046

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 58, NO. 6, JUNE 2012

Fig. 7. Error performances of the (1023, 877) QC-LDPC code given in Example 6.

is shown in Fig. 6. At the BLER of

dB from the sphere packing bound.

, the code performs 1.3

Example 6: In this example, we use the 2-D Euclidean gefor code construction. Then,
,
ometry
and
. The base matrix is given
are listed in Table I. Replacing each
in (17) where
of by a 31 31 circulant permutation manonzero entry
trix whose first row has a one-component in position and each
zero entry by a 31 31 zero matrix, we obtain a 33 33 array
of circulant permutation and zero matrices of size of
31 31. Let us choose
and
and form the
of
. Then,
is a
subarray
whose rows have weight 32 and
186 1023 matrix over
whose columns have weight 5 or 6. The rank of
is 146. Its null space gives a (1023, 877) QC-LDPC code whose
minimum distance is at least 5. The error performance of the
code over the AWGN channel with 50 iterations of the SPA is
, the code performs 1.8 dB
shown in Fig. 7. At the BER of
from the Shannon limit and at the BLER of
, it performs
1.1 dB from the sphere packing bound.
VIII. CONCLUSION AND REMARKS
The approach we developed in this paper is suitable for the
study of QC LDPC codes. Based on this approach, we can determine the ranks of QC codes and parity-check matrices for their
dual codes. In our future study, we intend to build on this approach. In particular, we would like to determine the minimum
distance of QC codes. Also, we would like to determine the minimum size of a stopping set and the minimum size of a trapping
set which characterize the performance of LDPC codes over erasure and error channels, respectively. These two features depend
on the particular parity-check matrix used. We would like to see
how these features associated with parity-check matrices, which
are arrays of circulant matrices, translate into features associated

with the corresponding diagonal arrays of matrices. Once this is

established, we can determine, for a given code, diagonal arrays of matrices corresponding to parity-check matrices which
are arrays of circulant matrices, that eliminate small stopping
and/or trapping sets, i.e., that optimize the code performance
over erasure and/or error channels. It should be noted that for
the parity-check matrices of Type-I given by (2) with
and of Type-II given by (5), (14)(16), it is shown in our separate paper [19] that the QC-LDPC codes have no trapping sets
of sizes smaller than their minimum distances that prevent the
decoder from converging. In particular, the error floors of these
codes are determined by their minimum distances which is the
best that can be achieved by any parity-check matrix of each of
these codes.
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Qiuju Diao received the B.S. degree from Xian University of science and technology in 2007, in electrical engineering. She is currently working toward the
Ph.D degree in electrical engineering at the University of California, Davis. Her
research interests include coding theory and its applications to communication
and storage systems.

Qin Huang received the B.E. and M.E. degrees from Southeast University, Nanjing, China, in 2005 and 2007, respectively, both in electrical engineering, and
the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of California,
Davis, in 2011. He joined in Link-A-Media Devices Corporation, Santa Clara,
CA, in 2011. He is currently an associate professor in Beihang (BUAA) university, China.
His research interests include classical and modern coding theory, signal processing, and their applications on communications and storage systems.

Shu Lin (S62M65SM78F80LF00) received the B.S.E.E. degree from

the National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, in 1959, and the M.S. and Ph.D.
degrees in electrical engineering from Rice University, Houston, TX, in 1964
and 1965, respectively.
In 1965, he joined the Faculty of the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, as an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering. He became an Associate Professor
in 1969 and a Professor in 1973. In 1986, he joined Texas A&M University,
College Station, as the Irma Runyon Chair Professor of Electrical Engineering.
In 1987, he returned to the University of Hawaii. From 1978 to 1979, he was
a Visiting Scientist at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown
Heights, NY, where he worked on error control protocols for data communication systems. He spent the academic year of 19961997 as a Visiting Professor
at the Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany. He retired from University of Hawaii in 1999 and he is currently an Adjunct Professor at Univer-

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 58, NO. 6, JUNE 2012

sity of California, Davis. He has published numerous technical papers in IEEE

TRANSACTIONS and other refereed journals. He is the author of the book, An
Introduction to Error-Correcting Codes (Englewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice-Hall,
1970). He also co-authored (with D. J. Costello) the book, Error Control Coding:
Fundamentals and Applications (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1st
edition, 1982, 2nd edition, 2004), (with T. Kasami, T. Fujiwara, and M. Fossorier) the book, Trellises and Trellis-Based Decoding Algorithms, (Boston,
MA: Kluwer Academic, 1998), and (with W. E. Ryan) the book, Channel Codes:
Classical and Modern, (Cambridge University Press, 2009). His current research
areas include algebraic coding theory, coded modulation, error control systems,
and satellite communications. He has served as the Principle Investigator on 32
research grants.
Dr. Lin is a Member of the IEEE Information Theory Society and the Communication Society. He served as the Associate Editor for Algebraic Coding
Theory for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY from 1976 to
1978, and as the Program Co-Chairman of the IEEE International Symposium
of Information Theory held in Kobe, Japan, in June 1988. He was the President
of the IEEE Information Theory Society in 1991. In 1996, he was a recipient
of the Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize for U.S. Senior Scientists and
a recipient of the IEEE Third-Millennium Medal, 2000. In 2007, he was a recipient of The Communications Society Stephen O. Rice Prize in the Field of
Communications Theory.

Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar received the B.Sc. degree from Alexandria University,

Alexandria, Egypt, in 1980, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the California
Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, in 1983 and 1986, respectively, all in
electrical engineering.
In 1988, Dr. Abdel-Ghaffar joined the University of California, Davis, where
he is now a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He did research
at the IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, University of Bergen, Norway, and Alexandria University, Egypt. His main interest is coding theory.
Dr. Abdel-Ghaffar served as an Associate Editor for Coding Theory for the
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY from 2002 to 2005. He is a
co-recipient of the IEEE Communications Society 2007 Stephen O. Rice Prize
paper award.