LDPC code design for the two-user Gaussian multiple access channel

We study code design for two-user Gaussian multiple access channels (GMACs) under fixed channel gains and under quasi-static fading. We employ low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes with BPSK modulation and utilize an iterative joint decoder. Adopting a belief propagation (BP) algorithm, we derive the PDF of the log-likelihood-ratios (LLRs) fed to the component LDPC decoders. Via examples, it is illustrated that the characterized PDF resembles a Gaussian mixture (GM) distribution, which is exploited in predicting the decoding performance of LDPC codes over GMACs. Based on the GM assumption, we propose variants of existing analysis methods, named modified density evolution (DE) and modified extrinsic information transfer (EXIT). We derive a stability condition on the degree distributions of the LDPC code ensembles and utilize it in the code optimization. Under fixed channel gains, the newly optimized codes are shown to perform close to the capacity region boundary outperforming the existing designs and the off-the-shelf point-to-point (P2P) codes. Under quasi-static fading, optimized codes exhibit consistent improvements upon the P2P codes as well. Finite block length simulations of specific codes picked from the designed ensembles are also carried out and it is shown that optimized codes perform close to the outage limits. © 2015 IEEE.