Abstract-A large variety of algorithms in coding, signal processing, and artificial intelligence may be viewed as instances of the summary-product algorithm (or belief/probability propagation algorithm), which operates by message passing in a graphical model. Specific instances of such algorithms include Kalman filtering and smoothing, the forwardbackward algorithm for hidden Markov models, probability propagation in Bayesian networks, and decoding algorithms for error correcting codes such as the Viterbi algorithm, the BCJR algorithm, and the iterative decoding of turbo codes, low-density parity check codes, and similar codes. New algorithms for complex detection and estimation problems can also be derived as instances of the summary-product algorithm. In this paper, we give an introduction to this unified perspective in terms of (Forney-style) factor graphs.
A general framework, based on ideas of Tanner, for the description of codes and iterative decoding (“turbo coding”) is developed. Just like trellis‐based code descriptions are naturally matched to Viterbi decoding, code descriptions based on Tanner graphs (which may be viewed as generalized trellises) are naturally matched to iterative decoding. Two basic iterative decoding algorithms (which are versions of the algorithms of Berrou et al. and of Hagenauer, respectively) are shown to be natural generalizations of the forward‐backward algorithm (Bahl et al.) and the Viterbi algorithm, respectively, to arbitrary Tanner graphs. The careful derivation of these algorithms clarifies, in particular, which a priori probabilities are admissible and how they are properly dealt with. For cycle codes (a class of binary linear block codes), a complete characterization is given of the error patterns that are corrected by the generalized Viterbi algorithm after infinitely many iterations.
Abstract-The information rate of finite-state source/channel models can be accurately estimated by sampling both a long channel input sequence and the corresponding channel output sequence, followed by a forward sum-product recursion on the joint source/channel trellis. This method is extended to compute upper and lower bounds on the information rate of very general channels with memory by means of finite-state approximations. Further upper and lower bounds can be computed by reduced-state methods.
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