Design of “Multiple–Turbo–Codes” with Transfer Characteristics of Component Codes

For the construction of low rate turbo– codes, the concept of multiple parallel concatenated codes, i.e. the “multiple–turbo–code” has been successfully employed e.g. in [13, 16]. Analysis of this structure has been done via simulations [16] or the analysis of equivalent coding schemes [13]. In this paper we extend the method of EXIT charts [5], that has been applied to multiple–turbo–codes consisting of identical component codes via serial– to–parallel conversion [13], to the analysis of asymmetric structures which employ different component codes. With this method, convergence analysis of the whole class of multiple–turbo–codes and their design