Design of nonbinary LDPC codes over GF(q) for multiple-antenna transmission

In this paper, we investigate the application of nonbinary low density parity check (LDPC) codes over Galois field GF(q) for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) fading channels. Depending on the size of the Galois field GF(q), we study both iterative systems which employ joint MIMO detection and channel decoding, and non-iterative systems which employ separate MIMO detection and channel decoding. Based on the concept of coset LDPC code and coset MIMO detector, we develop extrinsic information transfer chart (EXIT) approaches for the design of nonbinary LDPC codes for MIMO channels. Simulation results show that the proposed systems employing the designed nonbinary LDPC codes achieve a superior performance than that of the best optimized binary LDPC codes at a reduced complexity.