Abstract: A novel decoding algorithm, multi-level decoding, for data puncturing type-II hybrid-ARQ protocol is proposed in this paper. Compared to the conventional two-level decoding, the proposed algorithm makes full use of error-correcting capability of each punctured codeword to improve the system performance. Performance evaluation for the multi-level decoding algorithm with density evolution is made. Analysis and numerical simulation results show that, if a proper puncturing rate is chosen, the multi-level decoding algorithm can improve the throughput performance by a few tenths of a decibel at lower SNR.

Key words: DP-HARQ, LDPC codes, multi-level decoding, density evolution