Regular low-density parity-check codes from oval designs

This paper presents a construction of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes based on the incidence matrices of oval designs. The new LDPC codes have regular parity-check matrices and Tanner graphs free of 4-cycles. Like the finite geometry codes, the codes from oval designs have parity-check matrices with a large proportion of linearly dependent rows and can achieve significantly better minimum distances than equivalent length and rate randomly constructed LDPC codes. Further, by exploiting the resolvability of oval designs, and also by employing column splitting, we are able to produce 4-cycle free LDPC codes for a wide range of code rates and lengths while maintaining code regularity. Copyright # 2003 AEI.